The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto
by Caliburn0
Summary: Jiraiya's life is filled with failures. He failed to get the girl he always wanted. He failed to save his best friend from his own ambition. He failed to save three orphans from a war-torn country. He failed to save his last student from a fate worse than death. But if there is one thing he knows, it is that Uzumaki Naruto will not be another failure. DISCONTINUED.
1. Jiraiya

_Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Naruto either… It's strange how life works sometimes._

 **The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto**

Many have asked about my story. Whether it's for the sake of curiosity or something else, I do not know. It is quite a well know story. A hero's story. A warrior's story. It is the story of the elemental nations. Of shinobi. Of sacrifice and pain. It is a story of symbolism, gods and demons. It is the story of two brother's feud one thousand years old.

Where the story truly begins is highly debatable. Some would say it starts with the beginnings of shinobi. With old man Rikudou Sennin and his journey. With his search for peace and the sealing of the Juubi. With the birth of his two sons and the origins of the Senju and Uchiha. Some would go even further back, to the age of war before Kaguya, and the supposed beginnings of chakra.

In some ways, it does. In that vein, I should probably start this story with something similar to 'There once was this really, really big tree.' However, then we have to jump over centuries with nothing but conflict and boring battles that never led anywhere.

Some would say that the true beginning of the story lies with two boys who met at a river. Two young boys that desired peace. Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. Friends, rivals, enemies, brothers. The two founders of Konohagakure no Sato and the two main reasons the world had any semblance of order at the time of my birth.

However, those that ask for my story, ask for _my_ story, and not everything that came before. Therefore, I will tell you my story, and although everything you just read is paramount to this tale, it is only what came before the beginning. After all, it is the duty of children to clean up after their parent's messes. That's what my father told me at least.

My story, as many other stories, starts with two people who loved each other. A man and a woman. My parents. Their names were Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. Somewhere in there is a giant fox with nine tails, but that furball isn't really important until later. Yeah, he sort of killed my parents, but I long since forgave him for that. And to be fair, he did have a good reason. He also apologized a few decades after the fact, and if you know him, you know how rare that is. Even so, my parents died and I grew up an orphan.

I never really knew my parents. In fact, for most of my early life, I didn't even know who they were, but I love them all the same. They are my parents, and I am their son.

This is my story. My tale. The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Jiraiya:**

A white haired middle-aged man walked through the ruined streets of Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves. All around him people scuttled about. Civilians and shinobi alike running around frantically, trying to fix and salvage as much as they could after the disastrous Kyuubi attack a few days ago. One thought kept bouncing around in his head. One word. _Dead. Dead. Dead._ Namikaze Minato, his sole surviving student, the child of prophecy. _Dead_. It felt like someone had stabbed his heart with a thousand daggers of ice, scraping at the bottom with inescapable pain. Yet nothing showed on his face, he wasn't the only one who had lost someone.

 _Shinobi are those who endure._

Then he was standing before the Hokage Tower. The familiar building looming overhead. He hadn't even noticed when he'd arrived. A voice in the back in his mind chided him for not paying attention, but it was easily ignored in favor of the reassuring, repetitive action of movement. Far too early for comfort, his feet led him to the Hokage's office.

The toad sage lifted his hand to knock, but before he got the chance, a gruff oh-so-familiar voice called from within the office. "Come in, Jiraiya."

Without further preamble, Jiraiya stood before his old sensei. Hiruzen stood there, pipe in hand and clothed in the Hokage robes once more. Sarutobi's gaze burned into him as it had done so many times before. The Sannin didn't know how long they stared at each other, sensei and student.

After a while, the third hokage averted his gaze, looking towards the window almost wistfully. "You didn't use your usual entrance." The third remarked.

Jiraiya sighed heavily and let the stoic mask fall. "Didn't quite feel up to it."

A heavy silence loomed over them, neither saying a word for several minutes. Finally, Jiraiya simply couldn't stand it anymore. "What now, Sarutobi-sensei?" the Sannin asked. He was far too realistic than to expect his teacher to have all the answers, but it was all he cared to ask at this point.

Sarutobi walked over to the window overlooking the village. He puffed on his pipe, eyes unreadable to all but a few. "Konoha is weakened." He started. "This might very well be the greatest calamity the village has ever faced since its founding." The old Hokage answered with a weary voice. "Still, the Will of Fire burn strong. We shall rebuild in time. We will grieve, but we will prevail." A cloud of smoke followed this declaration. "We cannot afford another war so soon after the last one. To prevent this, we need all the information we can get our hands on. The village needs its spymaster. It needs you."

The toad summoner swallowed, he had been dreading this moment. "What about Naruto?" The Hokage looked away from his beloved village, studying his students determined face. With a small gesture, he dismissed the ANBU currently guarding the office.

"Over there, in the corner." Sarutobi gestured behind his desk.

Jiraiya walked forward as if the floor was made of burning coal. In the corner was a small crib just large enough for a newborn human. A head with thin golden locks stuck out from a couple of blankets. Three whisker marks branded each chin, giving the boy a faintly animalistic look.

Hesitantly, oh-so-carefully, Jiraiya reached down and lifted the small child. The baby was still entangled in blankets, and it ruffled against the crib as he moved. The movement woke the baby, and two disproportionately huge eyes stared up at Jiraiya with avid curiosity.

Minato's eyes.

Jiraiya almost dropped the baby in shock. His heart ached, and his resolve almost faltered. He wasn't ready, would never be ready.

A memory of Minato and Kushina telling him what they named the baby surfaced in his grief stricken mind, and his eyes hardened again. It didn't matter how much it hurt, he couldn't betray Minato like that. He wouldn't. "I…" He gulped, and took a deep breath. "I will take him. It's the least I can do."

Only silence reigned after his declaration.

"No." Came the short but astute reply. Jiraiya's head snapped around to stare at his teacher. "Uzumaki Naruto isn't only Minato's child, but the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Not only will he be targeted by his father's enemies, but by anyone who wishes to harm Konoha as a whole. Or by those who wish to take the Kyuubi for themselves. He cannot leave the village."

Thoughts tumbled around in his head as Jiraiya tried to comprehend what his teacher was telling him. Anger and disappointment reared their ugly heads, but with them came relief, followed quickly by shame.

"U… Uzumaki?" The white haired Jounin repeated. It was the only thing he managed to get out. Everything else seemed too out of proportion to fit with his world-image.

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, Uzumaki. As you know perfectly well, Minato and Kushina's relationship was not common knowledge. Only a handful of people knew about it. By giving the boy his mother's maiden name, we can at a least give him protection from Iwa, or others out for his father's blood."

Jiraiya stared at his teacher, emotions raging within him. "I am the boy's godfather. You can't just take away that privilege." Jiraiya shook his head in denial, or perhaps stubbornness. His long white locks came just within range of Naruto, who proceeded to grab them and tuck them into his mouth."Look at him! He is already a splitting image of Minato. Who are you trying to fool!?" The younger man almost shouted.

Hiruzen smiled sadly, his eyes heavy with a burden no man should be forced to carry. "He is a jinchuriki. I have forbidden anyone from speaking of it, but most adults already know. The few that don't won't stay in the dark for long, law or not." The third Hokage sighed and continued. "The human mind is a strange thing. We see only what we wish to see, and ignores what we do not. Even shinobi are human." Sarutobi seemed to age several more years in the span of a few seconds. "As far as the public is concerned, Minato had no girlfriend or wife, and certainly no heir. As such, they will not look for one. Least of all in the village jinchuriki."

Jiraiya's eyes had widened the more his sensei kept talking. "Then… who?" He asked in a low voice, already dreading the answer.

Hiruzen took another drag of his pipe, appearing as a mountain ready to weather a storm. "He will grow up an orphan. At five he will enter the academy, and graduate at twelve."

Killing intent flooded the room, making little Naruto cry. " **I. Will. Not**. Let Minato and Kushina's child grow up a jinchuriki orphan! I have failed them once already. I do not intend to do so again!"

Hiruzen appeared unruffled by his student's ire and only looked at Jiraiya with something akin to amused affection. "Then what would you have me do? No civilian would take him. There are precious few shinobi I could trust him with, and the few I could are all unsuited to take care of a child. I cannot give him to any of the clans, as that may severely destabilize the internal power structure of Konoha. He may very well be used as nothing more than a political tool."

The Third Hokage sighed again and continued puffing on his pipe. The killing intent receded as Jiraiya awkwardly tried to soothe the crying babe. "Give him to me. I am his godfather. I promise I will take care of him. I am one of the Sannin and an S–Class shinobi. I can protect him." Jiraiya insisted.

Hiruzen only continued looking at him with pity. He was beginning to hate that look. "Even you can't raise a child, run a spy network, and protect a high priority target for years without slipping up. Even if you decide to stop your more… extracurricular activities."

Jiraiya wanted to protest, but the words died on his lips. "I… I can't fail them with this as well. They entrusted him to me."

The Third Hokage turned around as he continued to study his beloved village. "I won't forbid you to see him, but he stays in Konoha, and when you do visit, be sure to be discreet."

* * *

"Raya!"

"Ji-rai-ya."

"Raya!"

A two-year-old Naruto waved his hands excitedly. Grinning as the white-haired sage tried in vain to get the excited toddler to pronounce his name. Jiraiya palmed his face and almost gave up when a thought hit him. "You are doing this on purpose, aren't you?" He asked seriously.

Naruto just grinned foxily at him, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions. "Nah! Nah! Raya! Tell me story!"

The toad summoner rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Now, what story do you want to hear? What about the story of the evil Salamander, and how the Gallant Jiraiya and his two trusted sidekicks kicked his ass?"

Naruto shook his head violently. "Yellow Flash!" Jiraiya hung his head in mock disappointment.

The two of them were currently sitting on the roof of Naruto's orphanage. The two year old toddler was trying to balance a newly summoned toad on his head. He wasn't doing too bad, all things considered.

"Hmm… about my great student you say? Well, I know more stories about him than anyone else in Konoha!" Naruto looked on wide eyed as Jiraiya began to recount the story of the kidnapped red-haired princess and the Yellow Flash's rescue mission.

"Nah! Nah! Raya! Did they get married?" Naruto asked after the story.

The Sannin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… who knows, maybe they did. In secret!" Jiraiya wriggled his fingers dramatically towards Naruto as the child giggled with unrestrained laughter.

* * *

"Hey, Raya... Why does no one want to play with me?" asked a three-year-old Naruto. The two was currently looking down at the village from atop the spiky locks of the fourth Hokage.

The toad sage hummed thoughtfully as he studied his godson's face. "It's because they can't see who you really are." Jiraiya replied eventually.

"Who do they see then? I'm just me, right?" Naruto asked, his wide blue eyes showing everything that he was.

The Sannin stared over the village as he replied. "Of course you are Naruto. Of course you are."

* * *

A four-year-old Naruto stared at the children playing from across the playground. He was sitting on a swing, feet kicking at the air. Wondering for the hundredth time why no one wanted to play with him.

"Need a lift?" A familiar gruff voice asked from behind.

Naruto turned around so fast he nearly fell out of the swing. "Raya! You're back!" He shouted excitedly as Jiraiya smiled down at him.

An hour later, Jiraiya was jumping from rooftop to rooftop with a laughing Naruto on his back.

They settled down on top of their usual place, the Fourth Hokage's head. Each had a stick of ice cream eagerly awaiting consumption. After a few minutes of silence and ice cream eating, Naruto spoke up "Jiji told me the hokage were the greatest heroes the village has ever had! He said everyone respects them and looks up to them."

Jiraiya looked at the blond boy as he nodded slowly. "Well yes, they are. Of course, they aren't quite as great as me though!" He finished with boisterous laugh.

"Then…" Naruto jumped to his feet as the sun began to descend. He pointed out towards the village, no hesitance in his movement or voice. He spoke with absolute conviction as he shouted out his declaration. "I'm going to be Hokage one day! Dattebayo!"

* * *

"So class, let us introduce ourselves." A nervous Umino Iruka started, standing before his newly assigned class of academy students. The already loud classroom became even louder as two students jumped up before everyone else had a chance to do anything.

The overexcited Inuzuka and the blond… _boy_ stared at each other, a silent battle of wills commenced. Apparently they both decided they won, and began at the same time, both shouting at the top of their lungs.

"MY NAME IS-" "HEY EVERYONE-" "INUZUKA KIBA-" "I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO-" "THIS IS AKAMARU!" "AND I'M GOING TO BECOME HOKAGE ONE DAY! DATTEBAYO!" The two boys stared at each other, lightning flashing between them.

Iruka slowly dragged his hand across his face. This was going to be a long seven years.

* * *

"Hey, my name is Uzumaki Naruto? Do you want to play ninja with me?"

A six-year-old raven-haired boy looked up from his book on shuriken techniques. Studying the blond in front of him. Uchiha Sasuke shrugged and smiled "Ok."

Later that evening, Sasuke smiled to himself, thinking about the new friend he had just made. "What are you thinking about little brother?" Uchiha Itachi asked as he sat down next to Sasuke. "Nii-san! I made a new friend today!" Sasuke smiled excitedly.

Then he scrounged up his face as he recalled the rest of the day. "He's very loud, but nice. I like him."

Itachi smiled down at his brother as he recounted the day in the excited manner only children can. "Does this new friend have a name, Sasuke?" Itachi asked mildly.

Sasuke nodded fervently. "Uzumaki Naruto, a blond boy with really blue eyes."

Itachi got a faraway look in his eyes as he looked around. Making sure no one else overheard. "Hmm… That's nice Sasuke, but I don't think you should tell Otousan about him."

Sasuke's confusion was evident all over his face.

"Not everybody likes Uzumaki-kun, and you might be told to stay away from him." Itachi explained.

If possible, Sasuke only became more confused. "But… but, why?"

Itachi became silent for a moment, staring out over the Uchiha grounds. "I guess… they just don't see the real Naruto."

* * *

"Hey! Hey! Sasuke where have you been? I haven't seen you all week?" Naruto shouted, running up to his friend during lunch-break.

Sasuke flinched as if he'd been hit. He looked over at Naruto with bloodshot eyes and eyes that belonged on a cornered animal. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, unsure of how to proceed. After a moment, the wild look settled and the Uchiha boy looked away. "Leave me alone, Naruto."

Naruto looked at him with wide eyes and a bit of hurt. "But…"

Sasuke turned again to Naruto. This time he was angry. "Leave me alone! Just… Just go." He finished feebly.

Silently, Naruto left.

A few hours later, a blond boy trudged into the Hokage's office looking utterly miserable. Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork as the young jinchuriki dragged at his sleeve. "Nah… Jiji, when does Raya come back?"

Hiruzen lifted the young boy into his lap and patted his head softly. "It's still a few months Naruto, you know that."

Naruto sniffed and buried his head into the old man's robes. "But I want him to come home now!" It was such a childish request that Hiruzen couldn't help but smile.

"Now, now, Naruto, even I can't force time to go faster than it already does. However, I am still here, and I will listen if you have something to tell me." The old man said.

Naruto was silent for a few seconds as Hiruzen waited patiently. "Wha… What do I do if my friend doesn't like me anymore?"

The Third Hokage waited for a long moment mulling over his response. "Who is your friend, Naruto?"

Naruto sniffed some more as his body began to shake against the old man's frame. "Uchiha Sasuke." He said at last.

Hiruzen sighed. "Sasuke has just experienced something horrible. His entire clan was killed before his very eyes. Don't be too hard on him."

Naruto looked up at the Hokage with wide eyes. "Who… Who killed them?" His voice was very low, as if he was almost afraid to find out.

Sarutobi eyes focused on something far away, but he did answer the question. "Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother."

* * *

"Hey, Sasuke. Do you want to play Ninja with me?" Naruto asked a little hesitantly.

Sasuke's face scrounged up in distaste. "I don't have time to play ninja with you, Naruto."

The blond looked down. When he looked up again. A steely glint had entered his eyes. "Then… Do you want to spar?"

Sasuke frowned at him, but after a few seconds of deliberation, he stood up with a quiet "hn."

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Umino Iruka slammed his ruler down on the sleeping boy's table.

"Huh? Huh... whacha want?" The Uzumaki mumbled with tired eyes.

Iruka groaned. "Be awake for class, Naruto, or else you will never become a ninja. Your Taijutsu and physical scores are good, but you fail every single written test."

Naruto straightened in his seat as Sasuke managed to hold in a spectacular face-palm. "But, Iruka-sensei, studying is BOOOOORING! And Shikamaru is asleep as well, why don't you shout at him?"

Iruka just sighed again. "Because Shikamaru knows the subject a lot better than you do. And no matter what I do, I can't seem to get him to stop."

That probably wasn't the best thing to say to a child if you wanted him to listen, but Iruka had his own methods. "All the previous Hokage studied a lot too, you know."

Naruto just stared at him as if he had just proclaimed the moon was made of cheese. "WHAAAAT!? Why didn't you just say so!" Naruto shouted, managing to wake the other sleeping student two rows further down.

"Keep it down Naruto, there are people trying to sleep here."

Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Ah… Sorry Shikamaru."

* * *

"Hey Raya, Iruka-sensei said all the Hokage before me studied hard. But… Studying is so boring. Why can't I be a great ninja without studying? I will learn a bunch of cool jutsu, and defeat all the bad guys! Why do I have to study for that?"

Jiraiya only listened with half an ear as he continued his research, giggling and writing down new ideas for future books. "Hmm… did you say something brat?"

Naruto pouted and crawled onto the toad Sage's back. "What are you doing?" The child asked, focusing on the wall before him as if he could see straight through it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the Byakugan, so it ended as nothing but an exercise in futility.

"I am admiring the beauty of the female form, gaki. Unfortunately for you, you are too young to comprehend the value of heavens valley or the gate to paradise just yet." Jiraiya answered truthfully.

The blond boy just tipped his head sideways, a confused look on his face. "Huh?"

Jiraiya ignored him in favor for his research.

"Did you study?" The blond child asked again, a frustrated pout forming on his mouth. He didn't like to be ignored.

The Sannin snorted. "Sure I studied. If you want to be the best, you got to give it your best."

Naruto crawled inside Jiraiya's long white hair and curled up to the smallest ball he could. He was a bit too big to do it effectively though, and two sandaled feet stuck out of the Sannin's mane. A bit of golden hair peeked through as well.

"Then… Then I will study really hard and become the best ninja ever!" The muffled exclamation came from inside the older man's hair. Jiraiya smiled fondly as he stood up, ignoring Naruto's indignant protest and subsequent 'thump' as the blond hit the ground.

"Well then, Naruto! I will help you with that. From this day forth you may call me Jiraiya-sensei!" The toad sage declared.

Naruto just looked up at him with incredulity. "Raya-sensei sounds stupid!" He shouted back.

The white-haired Sannin left eye developed a dangerous tick as he looked down at his newest student. " **Ji** -Rai-ya-sensei. That doesn't sound that bad, does it?"

Naruto just continued to look at him as if he was an idiot. The blond boy scourged up his face as if he was thinking about something very important. After a few seconds, he nodded to himself. He stood up, pointed at Jiraiya. "You are Ero-sennin!" The proclamation was made with the same surety he used when he said ramen tastes good.

* * *

"Hey Ero-sennin, we are doing these jutsu in class, but I just can't do the Bunshin…"

Jiraiya scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Can't do the Bunshin, eh? Well… I have a technique that may fit you better. It's called the Kage Bunshin. It may as well have been made for you."

* * *

"Hey Raya? What's your dream? You said all shinobi should have a dream, and try their hardest to make it real."

They were sitting atop the fourth's head again, overlooking the village during a particularly beautiful sunset. Naruto sat in Jiraiya's lap, trying to eat the blue ice-cream Jiraiya usually got him. Unfortunately, it was a bit too hot outside and it was melting faster than he managed to eat it. The young boy looked up at Jiraiya with childlike curiosity, waiting for an answer.

"Hmm… My dream… huh." Jiraiya answered slowly. "Well… I can see that there is too much hatred in this world of ours. People kill and kill and kill in an endless cycle of hate and revenge. Many may say that true peace is impossible. However, I believe that one day, humans will truly be able to understand each other. People from every nation will come and stand together under a common goal. That is my wish, my dream."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Ehh… I don't get it."

Jiraiya just smiled down at the young blond, so reminiscent of his father, yet so unlike him at the same time.

"But if it's your dream, I'll help you!" The young boy beamed up at the older man with a smile that put the sun to shame.

Jiraiya snorted incredulously "HA! You? You're just a little squirt. What do you think you could do?"

Responding to the challenge the only way he knew how, Naruto jumped up and pointed at the white-haired ninja. "Just you wait! I'll be the hokage one day, and then I will make everyone understand each other! Just sit back and watch old man!"

* * *

"Your turn Naruto, please do at least three bunshin." Naruto frowned at Iruka and Mizuki. Raya said it would be fine, but he was still very nervous. Ero-sennin told him to keep the technique secret until graduation, or they would both get in trouble.

"Ehh… I can't do the bunshin Iruka-sensei." Naruto admitted with a nervous scratch behind his head. He quickly followed up that admission with another, "But Ero-sennin said this would be ok instead."

With that, he put two fingers in a cross seal and called out. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten perfectly solid clones burst into existence around the room. Iruka fell out of his chair and Mizuki's jaw dropped.

Iruka managed to gather himself first. He poked at one of the clones, checking its legitimacy.

The clone began giggling. "Stop that Iruka-sensei, it tickles."

Iruka simply stared at the clone with wide eyes. Then he smiled proudly. "Congratulations Naruto, you pass!" Mizuki clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood.

Naruto beamed up at his favorite teacher. "YATTA!" Ten Naruto's shouted as they jumped into the air.


	2. Hatake Kakashi

_Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, and not me. Unlike most people on this site, I'm actually kind of glad for this fortunate situation, as I would have no idea what to do with such responsibility._

 **Author's Note: You may find my use of jutsu names inconsistent, and maybe they are, but I do have a rudimentary system. I am far too lazy to read up on all of the Japanese names and translations for every technique. Not to mention the hassle of coming up with my own. However, I find that I prefer the use of Katon, Futon, etc. to Fire Release, Wind Release etc.**

 **I don't really know why, but that's how it is. Therefore, I will be using the Japanese names for the nature transformations. I will also be using the Japanese names of well-known techniques. Names like Kage Bunshin, instead of Shadow Clones. I will also be using Gokakyu no jutsu instead of Great Fireball. The same with Chidori and a few others, the rest will be with english names. This is mostly because I like having names in their original language, and I'm used to them. I'm also too lazy to do any more.**

* * *

Throughout my long life, I have had many names.

Early on, the villagers often called me things like 'fox brat' or 'demon child'. I have been called boy, brat and idiot. I have been called hokage, child of prophecy, savior of the world, son, and even father. The bingo book lists me as… well. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise now would I? That's how my father got his famous epithet of 'The Yellow Flash', after all.

Later in life, when people ask me why all these wars happened. How humanity could just continue to kill each other for thousands of years without stop, and how all this hatred culminated over centuries until it almost destroyed the world. I begin to wonder. It is a difficult question, and I don't always answer the same way depending on who asked.

I could say it's because of the secretive nature of shinobi. We hoard knowledge, denying anything of value to everyone else. Even history has been hoarded. Before the fourth shinobi war, the number of people that knew anything substantial about the Sage of the Six Paths could be counted on one hand (If you exclude the tailed-beasts that is). I mean, even his name, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, was only known by a few privileged individuals. How can we ever expect to learn from history when no one knows any history? There were a few accounts of him, but mostly just fairy tales and ridiculous stories that can't possibly be true. Who would ever believe he created the moon? Yeah, right. Created the moon my ass.

…

Oh… That really happened? Sorry Kurama! Ah! I said I was sorry! Please don't eat me! I meant no disrespect!

Another answer can be that hatred is a cycle of self-fulfilling violence. The more you fight the more you create, both inside yourself, and in others. It requires tremendous effort to forgive the unforgivable.

Many people I have fought insisted that humanity can never come together, that we are doomed to failure and eternal war. And… Maybe they're right. Making humanity as a whole trying to stop fighting seems like the biggest challenge I could ever imagine. But… I'm not alone. No matter what happens, I will never stop trying. My father, my teacher, my friends, they all entrusted me with this task. I won't give up until I have knocked some sense into everyone.

That may seem a bit counterproductive, but it's worked well so far. I mean, I would totally have no problem sitting down for tea and talking things over. Like, telling Madara to please calm down, stop trying to subjugate humanity and just make up all his problems with Hashirama. Because trying to enslave every human on earth is not nice, ya' know. Yeah, I figure that would go down well.

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – Hatake Kakashi:**

"And Team seven will be… Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura Haruno and Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jounin Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi" Umino Iruka looked up and caught sight of the mentioned students.

Naruto stood up arms high in the air "Alright! We're going to kick so much ass!"

* * *

Three hours later, Kakashi walked through the classroom door only to get the chalkboard eraser, still full of chalk, landing atop his thankfully already white hair. This was shortly followed by raucous laughter. "Hahahahaha! You fell for it! You fell for it!"

Kakashi just stared the young blond down until the laughter turned to nervous short breaths. "Mah… How do I say this? My first impression of you is... I don't like you guys." The silver haired Jounin proclaimed in the most deadpan tone of voice possible. "Now, meet me at the rooftop in 3 minutes." He said, right before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

A few moments later, all three newly graduated students sat on the roof. Kakashi was leaning against the railing, something which would make a certain green clad Taijutsu master complain about his 'hip' attitude. "So, tell me about yourself." The jounin said with a clap for emphasis, as if that would make the entire process go faster.

The three newly minted genin looked at each other before Sakura spoke up. "Like what?"

Kakashi waved his hand in a lazy manner before answering. "Your likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future. That sort of thing."

Naruto only looked more dubious. "Why don't you go first sensei?"

The masked Jounin scratched his chin as if thinking through his own question. "Hmm… My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't want to tell you my likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future? Hmm... And you're all too young to know my hobbies." The three Genin sweatdropped at that, not knowing quite how to respond. "Now it's your turn. We can start from the right."

At that, Naruto jumped up with a finger in the air. "Yosh! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like Ramen, especially Ichiraku Ramen. I also like to watch sunsets from the Hokage monument, and Raya- _chan_." He said the last suffix loudly with a mocking lilt to it. As if summoned by the very word, a pebble came flying out of nowhere and hit the blond in the back of the head.

Naruto stumbled a bit, but his only other reaction was a small, fond, smile that replaced his earlier exuberant one. "I like ice cream, Hokage-Jiji, Iruka-sensei and many, many other things!" Now his smile had become his normal sun overshadowing one, his eyes shone with excitement as he continued. "I dislike the 3 minutes ramen takes to cook. And my dreams for the future…" here he took a deep breath and shouted to his declaration to the heavens. "I'm going to be Hokage! Dattebayo!" He said it with absolute conviction, as if he couldn't even imagine himself failing. "I will surpass every previous Hokage and make everyone acknowledge me! Then I will make everyone understand each other and bring peace to the world!"

Kakashi's one visible eye widened slightly at that. It was quickly back to normal however, this time crinkling with good humor. "World peace, eh?" Naruto just nodded, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Alright, next."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto with a raised eyebrow, but he didn't comment. Instead, he started his own introduction. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I dislike and few things I like. And my dream… no, my ambition, is to revive the Uchiha clan and to kill a certain man."

Naruto looked at the one he considered his first friend. He just couldn't imagine it. He couldn't even imagine what Sasuke had gone through. Every time he tried, his mind shied away, merely the thought hurt worse than anything he had ever experienced. And he never even had any family to begin with.

Kakashi studied the reactions of his students. Naruto seemed to know what Sasuke was talking about, which was slightly surprising. It wasn't like the Uchiha massacre was a secret though. Sakura was looking at Sasuke as if he was sparkling with glitter and coolness. Classic fangirl. If they passed the test tomorrow he would have to do something about that, crushes were fine, but if they messed up the team dynamic, thereby affecting coordination and their ability to cooperate effectively, it could be detrimental in the field.

He clapped once more to get the attention of his almost-students. "Alright, now the girl."

Sakura blushed but started her introduction easily enough. "My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is… well the person I like is… ehm..." If her cheeks had been pink before, they were crimson now. She looked over at Sasuke, but he seemed to be steadily ignoring her and looked straight forward, not that Sakura seemed to be dissuaded by this. "Eh… My dreams for the future." This time she looked down and squealed like… well… a twelve-year-old fangirl. "The things I dislike is Naruto and Ino-pig." Naruto seemed to fall into a deeply depressed state at that. "And my hobbies are…"

She hesitated too long, so Kakashi stood up from his lazy slouch on the railing. "Ok. That's enough for introductions. Tomorrow we will start your shinobi duties."

Sakura seemed a bit affronted at the interruption, but Naruto overshadowed it with his excitement at the topic. "What? What is it?" He asked as he jumped up and down on the roof he was sitting on, his earlier bout of depression forgotten.

Kakashi's eye crinkled with mirth as he continued. "Survival training."

Naruto and Sakura seemed confused, while Sasuke's expression betrayed nothing. "Survival training? Why is our first duty training? We had enough training at the academy." Sakura complained.

Kakashi eye-smiled at her as he continued. "This isn't normal training. This time, I will be your opponent." The three Genin looked at each other but said nothing. "This training is an exam which will decide if you become my students or not. Of all 27 graduates in your class, only an average of 9 will become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy, or be complete failures as ninja."

Naruto's jaw dropped. Sasuke's expression tightened. Sakura seemed scared and kept looking over at Sasuke.

"What! No way! What was the point of graduating then?" Naruto protested.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh that? Every idiot could pass that. That was just to see if you had the potential to be ninja." Naruto stared slack jawed at the silver-haired shinobi.

"Tomorrow I will test all your skills as shinobi, so bring your tools and equipment. Oh, and you should probably skip breakfast. You might throw up."

Naruto looked down at his clenched hands with determination. He was _not_ going to fail here, people believed in him, and he would show them all that was not a mistake.

"Right, meet me at training ground 3, 9 o'clock." Kakashi declared before he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Kakashi walked down the streets of Konoha, nose buried firmly in his little orange book, his face betraying nothing of his thoughts.

"So what do you think?" A deep voice called. Kakashi looked up from his book at the white haired legend standing before him.

He didn't seem the slightest bit surprised, but he did raise an eyebrow at the question. "About what, Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes in response and picked up the same pace as the younger man. "You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, Kakashi. About your new students."

Kakashi's visible eye crinkled up as he continued reading the book. "Mah… They're not my students yet."

Jiraiya didn't seem very perturbed by that, he only waved the concern away. "They will be. Naruto would never accept anything else."

Kakashi studied the man who was walking beside him. "He is an interesting kid." He commented.

The question was as clear as if he'd asked it out loud. Jiraiya just smiled mysteriously. "That he is. That he is."

* * *

The next day Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all arrived at varying intervals before 9. The first thing they noticed was a big lunch box in the middle of the training ground. It sat there, looking suspiciously out of place. It had pictures of frogs on all sides and upon opening it, all the three kids' empty stomachs growled. The box was filled with food of all types and sizes.

Sakura immediately declared it was a trap. "Sensei said we shouldn't eat breakfast. He is probably testing us."

Naruto however, studied the box, scrounging up his face as if trying to remember something very important. "I don't think so. Sensei said we _probably_ shouldn't eat breakfast, it wasn't an order."

He scratched his head as looked at the frogs on the side of the box. Then seemed to come to a decision. He picked up the box and went over to the tree Sasuke and Sakura was under, then he divided it in three and gave a portion to each. Sakura was about to protest, but Sasuke took it without further preamble, making her arguments fall flat before they could even be uttered.

"It probably is a test. It's a test of whether or not we can think for ourselves and not just blindly follow whatever our superiors say." The Uchiha said. Naruto nodded along, listening raptly, looking as if his friend had just explained the inner workings of the universe.

After half an hour of eating, Kakashi still hadn't shown up, and all three Genin was beginning to get impatient. "Gah! I hope it isn't going to be like this every day!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

In a tree at the other side of the clearing, Kakashi had to hold back a snicker. This might be a lot more fun than he'd thought.

* * *

In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen was wondering where he'd put his crystal ball. It was an important artifact from the village's founding, and he was the hokage. He didn't loose stuff like that.

The orb was a locating device that locked into a person's chakra signature and made it possible to observe them from afar. The range was limited however, and simply suppressing one's chakra signature was enough to hide from it. Very few shinobi knew how to use it, and Hiruzen had a good idea who could have taken it. With a few hand seals and some fine chakra manipulation, he was now staring out of his crystal ball… and into the very surprised face his most loyal student.

The ball didn't transmit sound, but lip-reading was one of the most basic skills a shinobi could have. "Now, Jiraiya. Would you mind telling me why you have stolen the crystal ball… again?"

Jiraiya looked sheepish as he grinned guiltily. "That's a new trick, sensei. Why didn't you use that last time?" Sarutobi sighed at his student's obvious attempt at misdirection. Honestly, wasn't he supposed to be a master spy?

"Even an old dog can learn new tricks. Or in this case, create. Now don't avoid my question. Are you peeking at the women's baths again?"

Jiraiya looked affronted at the suggestion. "Unlike you, I am perfectly capable of doing that without this old piece of glass, thank you very much." Sarutobi merely raised an eyebrow, deciding silence was his best option in this case. Jiraiya sighed and seemed resigned to explain himself. "Kakashi is having them do the bell test today. I am only watching the baths until they begin, honest!"

The old Hokage shook his head with a fond smile. "Then watch it here. That ball is not supposed to leave the office."

* * *

"We should probably plan something." Naruto said after another thirty minutes of doing absolutely nothing.

Shikamaru would have loved it.

The two other genin looked over at the blond for further explanation. Naruto sat up, cupping his chin in thought. "I mean… Kakashi-sensei said he would be our opponent, and he is a jounin. We would probably not do very well on our own." Sakura looked thoughtful, but didn't say anything as she looked over at Sasuke.

Sasuke studied a pair of leaves drifting through the air as he answered. "Maybe you wouldn't do very well on your own, dead last." He smirked, only a little real mockery behind the words.

Naruto seemed affronted. "Hey! I haven't been the dead last since the first years at the academy!" Sasuke snorted and looked over at him with a lazy expression and a teasing glint in his eyes. "You were when I met you, dobe. You will always be the dead last to me."

Naruto clenched his fists as Sasuke mocked him, he had never taken Sasuke's emotional 180 very well, but he couldn't really fault him for it either. Meanwhile, Sakura didn't know what to do. Did Sasuke and Naruto know each other from the academy? Sasuke never spent time with anyone as far as she knew.

"Fine. It would probably help if we planned something. We have no idea when he's going to show up anyways." Sasuke coincided, making Naruto relax and Sakura to peek up. Planning she was good at. Maybe she could impress Sasuke.

A few minutes later, they were all lying on their backs in middle of the clearing, having gone through their skillset and possibilities of attack. It had been a revelation for Sakura. Of course, she knew Sasuke was amazing, but she had no idea that Naruto could do all that! Sasuke for his part, didn't seem very surprised, at least not until Naruto had shown them the kage bunshin. Compared to that, Sakura could barely do anything. Sure, she was ok in the academy taijutsu. She was quite good at shurikenjutsu, and knew all the three academy jutsu flawlessly. But Sasuke and Naruto could both do the same, well except that Naruto couldn't do the bunshin. That was something that still boggled her mind. Especially after he'd embarrassingly told them why he had to learn the kage bunshin.

Everything she could do, Sasuke could do a hundred times better. She was beginning to doubt what she really had to bring to the table when their sensei finally showed up in a puff of smoke and a cheerful wave. "Good morning everyone!"

Sakura and Naruto both jumped up at once, pointing accusingly at Kakashi with eerie synchronization. "You're late!"

Kakashi continued as if he hadn't heard anything. "Here's a clock that's set to noon." Then he pulled two objects out of his pouch. "And here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time's up." The three perked up at that. "Those that don't have a bell by noon gets no lunch. I will tie you to one of the training posts over there, and we will all eat right in front of you."

When this failed to get the reaction he was hoping for, Kakashi sighed inwardly. _Damn it, Jiraiya-sama. Can't you let me have just a little bit of fun?_ "Also," He added, almost as an afterthought. "Those who don't have a bell will be sent back to the academy. There are only two bells, so at least one of you will be going back no matter what."

The silence that reigned after that statement seemed to loom over the young shinobi. Naruto looked down at his feet, emotions warring within him. He had no idea what to do. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't fight his teammates like that. That went against everything he'd learned about shinobi from Ero-sennin and the old man.

This wasn't the kind of shinobi he wanted to be. _Then… then…_ A hard glint entered his eyes as he looked up. "When we get the bells, you two can have them." _When._ Because there was no way he would accept anything less. His two teammates looked at him with surprise. Sasuke maybe even more so than Sakura. There was a flash of… _gratitude?_ in his eyes.

Kakashi studied them silently. "Come at me with intent to kill. Nothing else will be good enough." He then sat down in a crouch, popped open a familiar orange book and said with calm certainty. "Begin."

All three Genin had to stop themselves from face faulting. Naruto was the first to recover. He popped up and pointed accusingly at Kakashi as the other two scattered into the woods. "You read those books? Who reads those? They're awful!"

* * *

In the Hokage tower, a very affronted white haired shinobi stood up with a tick mark on his face. "Oh, he is going to pay for that one."

* * *

Kakashi barely looked up from his book, but he did raise an eyebrow. "How do you know about them? You're far too young for this type of literature."

Naruto flushed red, but didn't let up. "Tell that to Ero-sennin, he is the one that read it to me in order to explain..." he faltered for a minute. "Never mind. I know now." He shuddered at the obviously uncomfortable memory.

Kakashi only snickered into his book, not bothering to comment on what had to have been a hilarious scene.

At that moment, hordes of Naruto clones burst forth from the canopy in every direction and sprinted at Kakashi. The silver haired jounin looked up with mild curiosity, but didn't seem the least bit perturbed as he dodged assault after assault, still with his attention firmly on the book. This only made the Naruto clones angrier and they began attacking more recklessly.

"Lesson one, taijutsu." Kakashi chanted as he began redirecting the clone's attacks so they hit each other. Sometimes he kicked one, or two, but mostly he let them beat each other up. "Shinobi hand to hand combat. You can have a multitude of styles, or master a single one. One style is seldom inherently better than others. Each have their respective strengths and weaknesses and different requirements." Faster than any of the genin could follow, Kakashi switched places with the original Naruto, which preceded to be swarmed by all his clones.

The clones disappeared, only leaving the original. Naruto was panting, but he wasn't too bad off. Then, faster than Naruto could react, Kakashi was behind him with his two hands forming a seal. "Never let an opponent get behind you. Konoha Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Pain!" He pushed his fingers 'where the sun don't shine' and Naruto was shot away screaming. The reactions to this varied from two face palms, one sigh and ruckus laughter.

Naruto went screaming into the river by the training ground, far more embarrassed than actually hurt.

A moment later, he crawled back ashore, eyes shining with a determined light. As quick as he could, he tossed three shuriken and two kunai at Kakashi, The three shuriken was on target, the other two missed by a few inches. Kakashi lazily swept them out of the air, barely bothering to look up.

Kakashi's attention quickly returned to the match as the ninja wire connecting the two that missed caught fire and constricted around him. The wires seemed to capture him. But then he burst into a log, signifying the use of kawarimi.

The jounin reappeared right underneath were Sasuke had caught one of the kunai before using his fire jutsu. The three genin immediately utilized the opening.

Twelve different kunai went flying from three different directions, while two different kunai and shuriken dispensers – which had been set up while Kakashi had been preoccupied – went off from the other two available directions. He was trapped.

Kakashi was impressed. It had been a long time since he had been impressed by anything, least of all genin. Kawarimi utilized chakra to create a bond between the user and another object, creating a rubber band effect. That meant that with no possible escape vector he would be hit no matter what he switched with. He smiled to himself as he watched their plan come to fruition.

This plan required both cooperation and effective planning by all three parties. Setting up two different launchers without him noticing had to be done by two different people. He would have noticed any significant movement from their original position, whether they had taken that into account or not was a different matter. He still would have noticed them setting it all up though, had he not been sufficiently distracted by something else, or rather, someone else.

"Lesson two. Ninjutsu." He proclaimed calmly as he went through hand seals with a speed that few shinobi could ever hope to match, then he slammed his hands to the ground "Doton: Earth style prison!" Around the jounin, four walls of earth surrounded him.

The genin weren't finished though. Sasuke jumped over the four corner wall and with a last hand sign finished his jutsu. "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu" A fireball about the size of two grown men emerged from the young Uchiha.

Kakashi's single eye widened in surprise. That was a lot of chakra for a genin. Naruto he could understand, even expect, but Sasuke as well? At least they weren't afraid of coming at him with intent to kill. Or rather, Sasuke wasn't. Two quick earth jutsu later and he was underground, having exchanged his body with an earth clone. That could buy him some time for the last lesson. These kids were actually not that bad. Who would have thought?

As the smoke cleared, all that was left of the earth prison was a few humps of earth and a bunch of kunai. Sasuke quickly looked around, trying to locate Kakashi before he got the drop on them.

Sakura, who had been running out of the underbrush after throwing the kunai, brushed her long hair out of her eyes and looked around for their wayward sensei. Suddenly the familiar drawl sounded right behind her. "Yo!" She shrieked and turned with a kunai in hand. It was quickly knocked away with a lazy swing of Kakashi's arm. Then, without missing a beat, he went through another set of hand seals. Sakura's world spun as she fell through the ground as darkness consumed her world.

Hearing Sakura's scream, both boys quickly found their location. Kakashi looked up from an incapacitated Sakura and waved at them. "Lesson three, genjutsu." He scratched his head and looked down disappointingly. "She wasn't very hard to capture. Oh well."

Naruto clenched his fists. "Oy! What did you do to Sakura-chan!" He was about to go charging in when Sasuke gripped his orange jacket. "Calm down, dobe. She's just in an illusion." Naruto looked hesitantly at Sasuke and then back to Sakura and Kakashi who seemed to have taken out his book again.

The two boys squared their stances, looked at each other and nodded once. The two genin ran at Kakashi from two sides.

What followed was an impressive dance of taijutsu where the two students once again forced Kakashi to put away his book. Sasuke was clearly the better of the two. He was faster, stronger and had a more refined technique. His style was mostly a mix between the normal Uchiha style, and the academy's more defensive one.

In contrast, Naruto was unpredictable, his attacks seldom followed any logical pattern and it seemed to be a mismatch between the normal academy style and other more advanced ones. However, they more often than not relied on a more grown up body, so even if they had connected it was doubtful that they would do any actual damage. From time to time, a clone or two of Naruto's would pop up. He seemed to have learned from last time and attacked more hesitantly.

After about a minute of back and forth taijutsu of this sort, in which Sasuke actually touched the bells once, a second Kakashi popped two arms out of the ground and dragged Sasuke under the earth so only his head was visible. "Doton: Inner Decapitation technique." One of the two Kakashis intoned softly. The other one used another set of hand seals created a strong gust of wind that seemed to pick up Naruto and throw him into the river again. "Futon: Great breakthrough"

A few moments later Naruto stumbled back to the shore, breathing heavily. Kakashi walked calmly into the clearing. Once again reading his book, and still with two bells hanging from his belt.

Naruto smirked triumphantly. "I have you now Kakashi-sensei! The ultimate ninjutsu no man can ever hope to survive. Harem no jutsu!" Out of the river, several very wet, very well curved, very well endowed beautiful specimens of the female gender crawled out, all calling with seductive voices. "Oh… Kakashi-sama!" Kakashi's eye went impossibly wide as his precious book fell limply to the ground.

Back at the Hokage tower, two old men flew back with massive nosebleeds and grins on their faces.

Kakashi just stared at the entourage of naked women that had emerged from the river, not fully comprehending what he was seeing. Then he felt a tug at his belt and the cloned women disappeared. Kakashi looked to his left. There, breathing heavily was a slight disheveled but very proud Sakura Haruno, holding two bells.

* * *

"NARUTO-BAKA!" Sakura called out as she knocked him to the ground after Kakashi had gathered everyone together. They all looked dirty and more or less exhausted, but they all wore the same proud expression. Well, except for Sakura, who seemed to be trying to burn a hole through Naruto with sheer willpower. "Don't ever use that jutsu again! Especially in the presence of a lady!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head where Sakura hit him. "Oww, Sakura-chan. You hit really hard. What's the problem anyways? We won!" He smiled brightly at her, but even Sakura could tell it was fake.

She hesitated a bit at that and looked away. Kakashi studied them as he pocketed his book again. "Now Sakura, you have two bells. What will you do with them?" Sakura looked down at the bells in her hand. They glinted in the bright noon sunlight. She hesitated and then she threw one of the bells to Sasuke, who caught it with a grunt of acknowledgment.

Naruto turned away as Sakura looked at the last bell in her hand. He promised he would let them have the bells. That didn't mean his stomach hadn't turn to ice just thinking about what would happen next.

Sakura stared at the last bell, and then at Sasuke, who looked back at her with a calculating gleam in his eyes. She had no idea what he was thinking, but for once it didn't seem so important. She had seen most of what the boys had done against Kakashi. They were good. Well of course Sasuke was good, but even Naruto was a lot better than she was. They were so far above her, and she had never truly noticed it. She had barely done anything, and yet she was the one that ended up with the bells.

If she kept this bell, she was sure that Sasuke wouldn't just forgive her. Sasuke and Naruto, they seemed almost… friendly. She had no idea when that had happened, but it wasn't important now. Even Sasuke's impression of her wasn't that important now. Well ok, maybe just a little. But the most important part was the fact that if she kept the second bell, she would never forgive herself.

Without thinking any further, Sakura called out. "Naruto." He turned half questioningly. Then he caught the bell thrown at him. It was a reflex action, something honed through them since the first year at the academy.

Naruto looked up at Sakura disbelievingly. His entire body frozen in shock. Never in his life had anyone given him something so valuable, given up something so valuable for themselves.

His eyes began to water as he stared down at the small object in his hand, then back up at Sakura. She had turned away, and didn't look at him. She didn't look at any of them.

Kakashi eye-smiled. Something akin to respect in his eyes. "Mah… That's enough of that. You all pass." Sakura turned around so fast she almost tripped. Kakashi had their full attention now. His single eye never stopped twinkling. "This was to test your teamwork, and I must say. You all passed with flying colors." Naruto and Sakura both looked up at him with wide eyes. Sasuke frowned in concentration as he went through everything that had happened that day.

"On a mission, there can often be situations where individuals has to sacrifice themselves for the team, or for the mission. Where individual dreams and wants become the lesser, and the village as a whole become the one thing worth dying for, or let others die for." Two of the listeners gulped at that.

"The rules tell you to give your life for the greater good and see others do the same. To kill your emotions and be only shinobi. And, in the world of ninja, those who break the rules are scum." Naruto's eyes was slowly changing from overwhelmed and scared to determined and rebellious. "But…" Here Kakashi looked behind himself at a black stone sitting in the distance, before looking back and staring them all in the eyes. "Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Naruto's expression - who had previously frozen solid - broke, and he stared wide eyed up at Kakashi. The silver haired Jounin wasn't finished however. "You are the first team I have ever passed. I am not really good with kids, but I'll try my best. Now remember that no matter what we see, or meet out there, I won't let my teammates die. I will sacrifice my own life if I have to." He reinforced the last sentence with a wave of positive intent. "I am your sensei, and you can ask about anything, you can trust me with anything you feel comfortable trusting me with."

He eye-smiled at them again, this time, mostly in humor. "Now, who wants lunch? My treat."


	3. Training

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto_

Author note: In the canon series, we never really get to see much of the regular training regimen of shinobi. We do get glimpses here and there, but nothing much more concrete than physical exercise and target practice. We do see a few chakra exercises like tree walking, water walking, wind nature manipulation, and a few seconds of medical ninjutsu training.

Training in taijutsu and kenjutsu isn't very hard to imagine, as we have normal equivalents in our own world. I won't be doing many of these pure training chapters, as I would rather the characters reveal their techniques in the middle of combat. I will however, be covering training quite regularly, as I want to show the general direction the characters are developing in.

I want to give the characters a more realistic learning curve, or at least what I feel is more realistic. I will try to avoid making them jump from barely A-rank, to super powered god in one week. Do keep in mind however, that all of the Konoha 12 are considered geniuses, or at least exceptional skilled. All of them exhibit higher abilities than normal. That means this 'realistic' learning curve is definitely above average. A few even border on the ridiculous. Twelve year old kids do not normally train until they drop, and throughout the show, all of the Konoha 12 shows remarkable ability to pick up things faster than normal. Even Naruto. Maybe especially Naruto. There is a reason they're kind of a big deal everywhere they go.

* * *

Chakra. Civilians sometimes call it magic. Most shinobi call it a tool, or you inner energy. For them, it is mostly a weapon used to fight. Monks call it… a forget it, they would probably go on a tangent rambling about souls, the existence of life, the universe and everything.

Honestly, the entire subject is far too complicated to be explained in a few minutes. Monks often use their entire lives in search of something even resembling an answer. It takes a lifetime to even begin to understand it. I know it took me far longer than I am entirely comfortable with. Ero-sennin sometimes talked about it, but back then I wasn't exactly the type to go into philosophical discussions about the nature of life.

Almost everyone that knows anything about chakra agree that it's a mix between the physical and spiritual energy of an individual. But that is like saying humans are made of flesh and bones. Strictly correct, but about as informative as saying Hashirama was a good ninja. To begin with, what even is physical and spiritual energy?

Well... physical energy, or yang-chakra as it is often called, is also a mixture of several different energies. It is the combined energies of every cell in your body, gathering and binding together thanks to your chakra network, which conveniently also connects every other aspect of your chakra. Yang-nature chakra also includes physical body mass and metabolism, although not many take advantage of this. The only ones I know of are the Akimichi clan, and surprisingly, the later stages of the eight gates.

The Senju and Uzumaki were known for having an exceedingly large amount of life-force, which also led to them having very large chakra reserves. All of this is your body's physical energies, or yang-chakra. Ki can be another name for it, although I didn't hear that name until far later in life.

Spiritual energy, or yin-chakra, is even more complicated, and encroaches upon the subject of souls and the afterlife. I think I will leave that one for later.

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – Training:**

"… And then he said we all passed!" Naruto waved his arms excitedly as he recounted the story.

Ayame smiled fondly as she listened to the excited blond. She could still remember the day when Jiraiya dragged a reluctant three-year-old into their ramen stand. He had been so shy and cute. She just barely had the willpower to keep from snuggling him to death. He seemed shy, but once they gave him a smile and a few encouraging words, the little boy instantly transformed into heaps of laughter and sunshine.

"Now, now, Naruto. That's your eight bowl. Don't you think you've had enough?" Teuchi commented half-heartedly. Not only was Naruto a boon of pure positivity, but he was also their number one customer, even above the Akimichi. Granted, they all had their own restaurants.

"Good morning, my beautiful Ayame!" A familiar voice came from behind Naruto.

"Raya!" Naruto shouted excitedly, hugging the white haired man. Jiraiya patted the blond boy on the head absentmindedly as he grinned a bit too widely towards Ayame.

"Jiraiya-sama," Teuchi began stiffly. Sure, this was one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha, maybe the entire world, but this was his daughter, and Jiraiya was his age.

That simple warning seemed to be enough, as Jiraiya shifted his attention towards Naruto. "So, gaki. I heard you made a new technique." At Naruto's blank look Jiraiya lent in a little closer, although his voice didn't really get any weaker. "You know… the one you used to trick Kakashi."

Naruto's face lit up in recognition and he nodded eagerly. Jiraiya's smile widened. "Do you think you could show it to me? I'm very interested in how a genin could beat the legendary copy-ninja."

Naruto tilted his head as if thinking over the proposal. At last, he said "Legendary-what-what?"

Jiraiya almost face faulted. It probably wasn't a good idea to start with. There was most likely a law against that stuff. Somewhere. Probably.

"Ahh… Never mind then." Jiraiya said dejectedly. Naruto seemed content to let the matter drop, and continue eating his eight bowl of ramen.

"I want to congratulate you on passing the Genin test." Jiraiya started again, scratching one of the red lines on his chin. Naruto looked up from his food and stared at the toad-sage with wide, eager eyes. "And I brought you a present!"

Now Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat, eyes almost radiating stars of excitement. "What? What is it?" The blond insisted.

Jiraiya waited a few moments for dramatic effect before pulling out a water balloon from behind his back. "Ta-da!" The three people present stared at Jiraiya with a mix of amusement, incredulity and disappointment.

"A water balloon?" Naruto ask hesitantly. He had gotten weird gifts from Jiraiya before. They usually had some sort of function to them. Of course, that was before Jiraiya discovered it had become a pattern and began giving him truly pointless gifts, all in order to 'break the monotony', as he called it.

"Well… You are getting the water balloon as well… until you break it. What I'm really giving you, however, is a jutsu." The sage explained.

Naruto stared at the water balloon as if it was made of pure gold. "Really? What's it called? What does it do? Is it awesome?" The words spilled out of the young boy like a leaky faucet.

"Yes." Jiraiya said as he fished out money from his toad wallet. Bigger, and in his opinion, much better than Naruto's frog themed one. He clapped down a bunch of coins on the stand in front of him.

Naruto stared at him with a deadpan expression, scarily similar to his new sensei.

"I'll pay for the kid this time. How much?" Jiraiya asked the ramen chef.

Teuchi looked down at the coins and shook his head. "Five more." Really, the toad summoner should know better than to pay for Naruto's ramen by now.

* * *

Team 7 were relaxing in various positions in their usual meeting place; a bridge not that far from training ground 3. Or rather, Sasuke and Sakura were relaxing. Naruto was trying his best to pop the water balloon he had been given. Ero-sennin had said to practice it mostly in private. The secrecy wasn't that important. They were in Konoha after all. However, the Rasengan was an important jutsu, and shouldn't be taught to just anyone. When Naruto had heard that the jutsu belonged to THE yondaime hokage, the Yellow Flash himself, he had barely been able to contain his excitement. He was going to learn this jutsu even if it was the last thing he did.

"What are you doing dobe?" Naruto didn't let himself be bothered with the offensive nickname. He was never going to get rid of it anyway. If Sasuke had decided that he was going to call him that. That was what he was going to call him.

"Training of course. What else can we do before sensei shows up?"

Sasuke looked mildly interested as he studied the water balloon in Naruto's hands. "What are you training?" He asked slowly, as if the question physically pained him.

Naruto almost smirked. Almost. "That's a secret. Get your own jutsu. This one is mine."

He could almost feel the heat from Sasuke's glare. "Hn." Was his only response. Sasuke then began going through the twelve standard hand seals. He was much faster than Naruto had ever managed. Damn clumsy fingers.

Sakura looked between the two boys hesitantly. When she heard the team arrangement, she had thought that Sasuke would be the leader. She would be his trusted teammate, stand by his side, and doing what she could to help. Naruto would be the odd man out. The one always causing trouble, always getting in her and Sasuke's way. She had imagined he would be the goofball prankster he had been at the academy, and in a way, he was.

He was still goofy, and more often than not, stupid. He still did pranks now and then, but something wasn't quite as she envisioned it. Ever since the bell test, Sakura had become painfully aware of how far behind she was. She was the weakest, the least skilled of the three. She was the one with the least tricks and abilities. She was booksmart, sure. She had scored even better than Sasuke on written tests, but that didn't give her much in terms of field ability. Something that Kakashi's test had made painfully clear. She had asked Kakashi-sensei, but he only said to stop her dieting and focus on training. She couldn't stop her dieting, otherwise she might get fat, and Sasuke would never look at her again.

The dynamic hadn't ended up at all like she had anticipated. Sasuke and Naruto was apparently friends, or at least acquainted, and there seemed to be some sort of rivalry between the two. During all the D-ranks, Naruto and Sasuke would compete to see who could do it best and fastest. Sasuke always won, of course. He always denied the fact that he was competing, but even Sakura noticed how he glanced over at Naruto at regular intervals, almost to make sure he was still ahead. That left her as the odd one out. She was left in the background while the boys tore through their missions. Still… she was used to being in the background. But... this was supposed to be her time! She had finally gotten a team. She was even together with Sasuke-kun, and with no Ino-pig in sight to ruin her chances.

She still yelled at Naruto when he did something extraordinarily stupid, like when the Hokage assigned them their first mission. Ok, she wouldn't say she hadn't been disappointed as well. Walking dogs? Really? Naruto had been thunderstruck. Iruka had to put him in his place after his little tirade, but he still wouldn't shut up during the mission, so Sakura had punted him into the ground for good measure. It felt quite good. Of course, Naruto was up again a second later, and the mission continued as normal.

"Mah… good morning, my cute little genin." Kakashi-sensei commented as he appeared in a swirl of leaves. He was about two hours late, as usual. Sakura noted that he was always over two hours late, every time.

Why?

"You're late!" Naruto accused his teacher, putting away the balloon.

"Well, you see. There was this dog with a wounded leg, so I had to take it back to the owner, and then there…" Sakura tuned him out as Kakashi continued his ridiculous excuse. This was just part of the normal routine for team seven. "I'm glad to see you're using the free time to train, otherwise, the poor dog would probably be terribly guilty." And suddenly it clicked for her. Kakashi was giving them those hours at the start of every day for training. It was quite the revelation. They had mostly just been waiting around. Sakura suddenly felt incredibly stupid. They were ninja. Hidden meanings were everywhere. Then again, that didn't change the fact that he was still lazy.

"Today we're going to try something special. I still think it's a bit early, but some convincing arguments have been made." Kakashi said in his usual lazy drawl.

Naruto and Sasuke both straightened at once, both eager to learn new stuff. "Learn what, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Kakashi smiled. "Today, you're going to climb a tree."

* * *

Four in the morning found Naruto lying on his back in the beat-down grass of training ground 3. He was staring up at the night sky. Thousands of stars stared back at him, reminding him of how small he truly was.

He would change that. He wouldn't be small forever.

Naruto sighed and sat up, staring at two trees riddled with a ridiculous amount of markers on them.

Not once. Not even once.

It had been a week since he and Sasuke had started the tree climbing exercise. Sakura had mastered it within a day, surprising pretty much everyone, including herself. Raya said control had to do with proportion of chakra, natural talent, and practice… or something like that. He hadn't really been paying attention. All he knew was that he had to beat Sasuke. This was their first time starting on even ground, and even then…

He came close. Oh, so close he came.

But Sasuke still beat him, and the only reason he even came that close, was because that idiot was too proud to ask Sakura for tips.

He clenched his fists until they turned white. Next time. He would get him next time.

He took out the water balloon.

Although it had become easier to manipulate the chakra after they began the tree climbing exercise, he still couldn't get it to pop like Ero-sennin said it should. It kept swishing around, never actually breaking anything. He might have to ask for more tips.

He just had to keep trying then.

* * *

The days went by in a blur. In the morning, the three of them usually practicing by themselves. Naruto didn't know what Sasuke was doing, as he wouldn't tell any of them. Sakura was practicing her kunai throwing and accuracy. And he had finally popped the water balloon.

The trick was to rotate the water several directions at once. It was difficult, but not impossible. He was extremely proud when he went to tell Ero-sennin. Then the Sannin just gave him a few rubber balls for the trouble and said he had to pop them too. Then he left, not to be back for another few months. It hurt every time he did that.

He could do precious little about it though. And... It wasn't so bad this time around. He had things to do, and people to be with, missions to do, (even if all those missions was super boring) and training to complete.

On one of those normal tedious days, Naruto finally swallowed his pride. "Eh… Sasuke, you know that fireball thing you do? Do you think… eh? Do you think you could teach me?" Sasuke looked at him without any expression, so totally unlike what he been when Naruto first met him. The blond almost winced.

"No. It's a secret, get your own jutsu."

This time, he did wince. He probably deserved that. But the Rasengan was THE jutsu, it was created by the yondaime himself, and Ero-sennin taught it to him. He didn't want to share it. It felt wrong. He did have another jutsu however, a jutsu almost as cool.

"I'll… trade you for it?" Naruto said, shuffling his feet guiltily.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not truly interested, but not dismissive either.

"I can teach you the Kage Bunshin no jutsu." The blond suggested. He wasn't really supposed to teach the shadow clone to others. Raya had said that it was extremely taxing on the chakra reserves. But he hadn't outright forbid it either, well except for the Tajuu version. Even Jiraiya couldn't do that one without seriously tiring himself out. It was also a kinjutsu, so he could be severely punished for teaching it to others.

On the other side; Sasuke, like him, also had a huge chakra supply. He had been going at the tree climbing exercise non-stop, at least as hard as Naruto had, and he jumped back up every day. They did end up stealing Kakashi-sensei's lunch money though.

Sasuke looked interested. He was giving Naruto his full attention for the first time in years. Whether he realized it or not. The Uchiha seemed to think through the suggestion, tipping his head a little to the side. "Okay. I'll teach you."

Naruto almost jumped in victory. He didn't quite manage to keep his happiness from the surface however, and a smile spread across his face. "Great! Well, I'll go first." Naruto put his fingers in the familiar cross sign and two clones popped up beside him. No reason to wait, after all. "You need to build up your chakra throughout your entire body. How much you channel depends on how many you want to create. Put two of your fingers in a cross sign like this, and let the chakra go out in streams. If you want to create two, it creates two streams, if you want three it goes into three streams, and so on. Oh, and of course the name is important." Naruto nodded to himself. That felt right.

Sasuke stared at him with a face that betrayed nothing. "That's it? That's all there is to it?"

Naruto nodded, a little confused. Why would there be more? Sasuke sighed and had to stop himself from face palming. How had no one stolen this jutsu yet?

…

They probably had.

Sasuke took a deep breath, letting his chakra build up inside him. It was more than practically any genin had, and even most chunin. Not that he had much of a basis for comparison. The raven-haired Uchiha put his fingers in a cross sign and called out, loud and clear. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A large drain on his chakra notified him that the jutsu was at least partially working.

He looked to his left, at the same time that the clone he had created looked back. It was strange, almost wrong to look at himself that way. Without a mirror, his face didn't look anything like he was used to. He poked the clone in the shoulder. Sure enough it was solid.

"Would you stop that? I am perfectly capable of proving I'm real without you poking me." Sasuke almost flushed, almost. This was a clone of him? His voice sounded all wrong.

Somewhere in the great beyond, Senju Tobirama shifted uneasily.

* * *

Naruto stumbled through the series of hand signs Sasuke had shown him. It wasn't that many, but Naruto wasn't used to utilizing hand signs for much.

There were several ways you could use the great fireball technique. Some ways had less amount of hand signs, some had smaller or larger fireballs. Some were hotter than others and so forth. It all depended on how you molded your chakra, the amount, and what hand signs you used. More experienced shinobi could even skip a sign or two. Not that Naruto knew anything about this. He just tried his best to remember the hand signs Sasuke had shown him.

He stopped on the last sign and breathed deeply. Chakra gathered in his entire body, mostly around his throat and chest, but his control wasn't good enough to localize it yet. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, or at least tried too. Instead he coughed up half-formed smoke tendrils. Temporarily losing the ability to speak.

Sasuke snickered. "What's that? Too much for you?" Naruto glared up at him in response.

"Mah… What are you pups doing?" Kakashi materialized behind them both, as impossible to detect as he always was. As normal, Naruto jumped in surprise and Sasuke spun around, kunai in hand. Kakashi only smiled at them. The fact that they were able to tell that, even with his one visible eye closed, was a bit scary to contemplate.

Sasuke huffed and put away the weapon, still irritated he could never spot Kakashi before he was practically on top of them. "We're training of course." Sasuke defended a bit tersely.

"Ah." Kakashi said. A few moments passed. Just before the silence turned awkward, the jounin spoke again. "You're teaching Naruto the fireball technique? That's nice of you."

Sasuke looked away, not entirely comfortable with the subject. Jutsu were almost sacred to ninja, to teach someone else anything at all was kind of a big deal. Even with something like the great fireball, which was one of the most basic fire jutsu that existed.

"We made a trade. He taught me the shadow clone." Sasuke deflected. Kakashi's face didn't betray his thoughts, he didn't tense up or express any other wayward feeling. Even so, Sasuke got the impression he was surprised, and a bit wary.

"And you managed it? No negative effects?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke looked at his sensei with surprise. "No. It's taxing, that's for sure, but not too bad."

Kakashi was studying his two Genin. 'Not that bad', he says. Those two are going to become monsters. "Mah, mah… I hadn't thought to begin with this for another six months at least, maybe even a year. But since you are all such willing students, and seem to continue with or without me, I guess it can't be helped. You have to start sometime after all."

The two young boys looked up at him with a mix of curiosity and confusion. "I will have something special for you tomorrow. Be ready." The silver haired ninja finished with a smile.

* * *

"You taught him the Rasengan?" Kakashi demanded incredulously.

Jiraiya looked entirely bored with the conversation. "As far as I'm concerned, it's part of his legacy. It was only a matter of time until I taught it to him anyway. Graduation seemed like a good opportunity."

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief or denial. "It's an A-rank technique. He is a newly graduated academy student. I am just now starting to teach them the tree-climbing exercise. By recommendation from you, I would mention."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the younger man's insistence on taking it slow. Honestly, wasn't he the one that made jounin at 12 or something?

"Kage Bunshin is a B-rank jutsu. The normal bunshin is E-rank. It may take him months to learn the Rasengan, but at least he knows it. He's not on a time limit here." Jiraiya explained. He didn't much thought into ranks in the first place. As far as he was concerned, they were arbitrary classifications made by old men with nothing better to do.

Kakashi sighed in defeat,

* * *

"So what do you have for us Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked as their teacher materialized before them the next morning.

In response, the ex-ANBU captain held out three slips of paper. "Take one each, then channel some chakra into it."

The three genin looked at each other, all of them equally confused. The fasted way to knowledge was probably just to do as their sensei said. Taking a piece of paper each, they carefully channeled some chakra into it. Naruto's paper cut in two, straight down the middle, Sakura's became damp and Sasuke's cracked, making strange lines towards his fingers.

Kakashi was silent for a few seconds, then he pointed at each of them in turn. "Wind, water, lightning." Out of all of them, Sakura's was the least surprising. Water was one of the more common transformations in fire country. The second most common after fire. Naruto's wind element was nearly nonexistent in Konoha, something that would make him a great asset if he became a ninjutsu specialist, as his chakra capacity suggested he would.

Still, it wasn't that surprising. His father had the same affinity.

The most surprising was Sasuke. A lightning affinity strong enough to override the Uchiha's natural leniency towards fire? That was nearly unheard of. Combined with his sharingan, Sasuke might be the perfect inheritor to his Chidori. He might even manage to take it even further than Kakashi had.

"So Naruto, had any luck with the fireball yet?" Kakashi asked casually.

Naruto shook his head, still confused by the two pieces of paper he held.

"In this world, there are five basic nature transformations. All shinobi may control these elements with enough training. These elements are fire, wind, lightning, earth and water. Or katon, futon, raiton, doton and suiton." Kakashi explained.

Kakashi assured himself that he had their full attention before he continued. "Each of them have their own advantages and disadvantages. During your time as shinobi, you may learn to control one or two of these. Maybe more if you're good and work hard." Here he held out his hand, clasping one in the other and began channeling chakra. "A nature affinity is what you and your chakra is naturally inclined towards." Chirping sounds filled the air as electricity crackled between his fingers. "My chakra nature is lightning, and as such, that is the element I am most proficient in."

The three young shinobi stared wide eyed at the Raikiri that Kakashi had gathered. After the jounin assured himself that they understood what he was saying, he reabsorbed most of his chakra and let the rest fade. "Any questions?"

Naruto blinked, coming out of his stupor. "Eh… yeah. Does that mean I can't learn the fireball technique?"

Kakashi shook his head. "With enough training and practice, all the five nature transformations can be utilized. It will probably never be as good as your primary affinity. And as Sasuke's secondary affinity is almost assuredly fire, you will most likely never exceed him in that area." Naruto looked disappointed.

"You have your own element though, I suggest training that instead." That worked, Mostly. Naruto still looked a bit disappointed, but there was a fire burning in his eyes. "Normally, nature manipulation are used by older shinobi, chunin level ninja or higher. Ninjutsu have heavy chakra costs, but seeing as both Sasuke and Naruto have relatively high chakra levels, I think we can safely begin now. This training might not be well suited for you though, Sakura. Tell me if you get tired, or want to stop." The two boys looked at each other, the tension of an upcoming challenge burning between them.

* * *

Naruto stared down at the leaf in his hand. When he had imagined training their elemental affinities, this was not what he had imagined. Neither Sasuke's nor Sakura's task was much more exciting than his though, so there wasn't much to be jealous about.

Sasuke was trying to send a spark of electricity between his fingers, while Sakura was trying to cup as much water in her hand as possible while also holding her hands upside down.

He looked down at the leaf in his hand. Not a single rip. Was this really that difficult? He scrounged his brow tightly in concentration. 'Imagine your chakra as a sharp edge. A knife that cuts through anything.' It sounded cool. At least until he discovered it was leaves he would be cutting. They weren't even special leaves, just normal leaves that fell from the trees on the training ground.

At least there was no missions today. Kaka-sensei said to concentrate completely on this. Currently, their sensei was sitting in a tree, almost exactly at the middle point between his three students, giggling from time to time as he read one of Ero-sennin's books.

"hey Kaka-sensei! How long does this usually take to master?" He and Sasuke had finished the tree climbing exercise in about a week. Afterwards, Naruto had been curious as to how long it usually took to finish it. According to Kaka-sensei, there were no 'average time' as he put it. It all depended on innate chakra control and a bunch of other factors. The only thing he was able to say was that Sakura's time of mastery was very rare. Usually, people didn't practice it until they dropped either. Opting instead to take it easy, as chakra exhaustion might make it take even longer than it would have otherwise.

Kakashi hummed non-committedly. "Well, the first exercise usually takes about six months or so to master. It depends on natural talent, the strength of the affinity, and how much practice is put in. The second, or third - if the element incorporates a third exercise - may last several years. If not a lifetime, depending on the intended level of mastery."

Naruto spluttered and stared up at his sensei in shock "A lifetime?"

The others had stopped their training as well to look up at their perpetually late teacher. Kakashi just eye-smiled at them. "Of course. You never truly finish learning. This is also one of those things that you don't really 'finish' to begin with. Most shinobi considers it mastery over an element once you have mastered two exercises. The basic one, which you are doing now, and the advanced one, which you might be able to start in a few months. Of course, there are as many exercises there are shinobi with imagination. Some are harder than others, and sometimes people incorporate a third exercise, whether to bridge the gap between the advanced one, or master their intended element even further."

Naruto had an odd look in his eyes. A mix of excitement and trepidation. It all seemed like so much. But if he was going to be Hokage one day, this was nothing, just a blip in the road. A huge grin began to form on his face as his body shivered with excitement. "Let's do this guys! Let's become the best of the best, and show everyone how awesome we are!" Naruto shouted as loud as he could.

Sasuke looked amused, but he said nothing. He did bend down to continue his exercise however. Sakura just looked embarrassed. She sorely wanted to hit Naruto, but he was too far away. With a sigh, she bent down to the water again.

* * *

Team 7 was currently lying on the ground after a particularly harsh training session.

Kakashi had become increasingly insistent and intense in his teachings methods lately. This latest test was designed to see how hard they were willing to work. And as such, it existed of the most excruciating physical and mental exercises Naruto had ever done. They seemed to be tailor made to make them all fall flat on their faces with exhaustion.

Kakashi closed the orange book he had been pretending to read, or maybe he had been pretending to watch them, while reading, or maybe he had done both… It was hard to tell with Kakashi sometimes. He seemed to be able to notice everything that happened around him, down to the butterfly that flew by several minutes ago. At the same time, he was always convincing when he asked people to repeat themselves or acted oblivious. It was rather annoying actually. Annoying could be used to describe his entire character. It was the best description Naruto could come up with at least.

"Alright, now it's time to get a mission." The three genin groaned desperately. There was no stopping Kakashi though. He practically hauled them over to the mission assignment office. When they arrived, Naruto had regained enough energy to run ahead of them. He was chatting excitedly with the Hokage as they entered, with Iruka trying to get Naruto to calm down and show more respect towards the village leader. Honestly, who called the hokage 'Jiji'?

"… Still can't get anywhere with that stupid rubber ball!" Naruto complained loudly while Hiruzen smiled fondly at his almost-grandchild.

"Ah… Kakashi. I see you're back. You having any problems?" Hiruzen asked mildly curious. Kakashi was always an amusing conversationalist.

"Nothing hokage-sama, these cute genin of mine are just like a set of excited pups, except their feeding bill is three times the norm. Even if I just pay lunch from time to time."

Naruto stared at Kakashi for a few seconds before he burst out affronted. "Oy! Are you calling us dogs?" Sakura seemed irritated to. Sasuke was simply ignoring the entire scene to the best of his ability.

Kakashi's eye crinkled with humor. "Of course. I give you orders, and teach you new tricks. From time to time I buy you food." Naruto stared at the silver haired jounin, mouth slightly agape. Hiruzen smiled at the scene, eyes filled with indescribable emotions.

"Well then. What mission would you like today? We have babysitting, fixing a roof, gardening, oh, and of course, Tora has escaped again." Naruto paled lightly at the last one.

Then he shook his head to clear it of the uncomfortable memories. "NO! We want a real mission. Not these stupid chores!"

Iruka was about to shout at Naruto again. Didn't he know the meaning of the word 'tact'? The Hokage was faster though. "And what do you all think of this?" The old man asked, looking at the three genin and Kakashi.

Sakura looked surprised, but gathered herself before answering. "Eh… I-it would be nice to get a harder mission, Hokage-sama."

All Sasuke answered with was his usual "hn." Even so, from his expression, it was clear that he was in on the idea.

Kakashi was the last who answered. "They are ready, hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded and picked up another scroll from a different pile. "Good, then I give you a C-rank escort mission. You're escorting a bridge builder to the land of waves."

Naruto looked like someone had just declared that Christmas had come early. "YES! Just watch us Jiji, we will complete the assignment in no time."

Sakura and Sasuke looked on disbelievingly. Both with the same thought running through their minds. That actually worked?

Author's Note: Yes, I am doing wave mission. I know this has been done to death, and can be a turnoff for a lot of people. I am sometimes one of those people. Wave is a good arc in the original because it introduces the reader to the world of shinobi. It comes with character development and world building. It is also a point of excitement in the beginning of the series, a hook, so to speak. Not so much excitement that it's overwhelming, but enough that it's exciting to read (or watch).

However, in fanfics, the reader already know about chakra, the elemental nations, and how the ninja world works (At least general knowledge). They are reading because they love the world and the characters, they don't need everything to be introduced to them again.

The wave mission is mostly static in fanfictions. There are only so many ways you can do it. Almost all the pieces are already set before the game begins. It still needs to be done however. It is a necessary episode in Naruto's life. His meeting with Haku and Zabuza became a large part of Naruto's character. Also, who else is going to save Wave Country? Of course, I'm not doing everything the same, I do have some freedom. I will try to keep it brief, hopefully not more than 2 chapters, with 4 being the maximum I allow myself.

For the moment I am sticking close to canon. And I will continue to do that up to the Chunin exam, where things will start to deviate, until this will become more my story than Kishimoto's. Of course, Naruto belong to him, but hopefully you get the idea.

Thanks for reading. :)


	4. Wave

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto._

 **Author's Note: As you can probably tell, my update schedule is going to be very sporadic. I have precious little free time, and what I do have, I don't always use for writing.**

* * *

Souls.

If there ever was a more ambiguous conversation subject, I wouldn't know one. What a soul actually _is_ **,** is almost impossible to pinpoint. Every attempt at classifying it either ends up as far too vague, or completely off the mark.

Some say souls are your 'true identity'. Others disagree. Some say souls wear bodies like people wear clothes. Switching them out only to get reborn in another. Others disagree. Some say true death only comes after the destruction of a soul. Others… actually, pretty much everyone agrees on that one.

Yin chakra, or spiritual energy, includes all of these vaguely defined concepts. It is your mental strength. Your will. Your focus. Your experiences. Your memories. It is all the bonds you have forged throughout your life.

Yin chakra is the combination of mind and soul. Or a spirit, as some would call it. While yang chakra is your entire body, and holds within itself the secrets of life.

A near limitless number of factors forms a soul. Which makes it nearly impossible to predict. Together with yang chakra, it forms your entire identity. It forms all the aspects of an individual. Body, mind, and soul. These three come together to create what we call chakra. You are your chakra, and your chakra is you.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – Wave:**

Sakura collapsed on the futon Tsunami had given her. The entire day had been an utter mess.

The mission had started well enough. Their client, Tazuna, had been a bit of a douchebag. But other than getting in a shouting match with Naruto, he hadn't really done much harm.

Then a pair of missing-nin from Kirigakure had attacked them.

It was over in an instant. Naruto and Sasuke really did work well together, even if Sasuke had to get Naruto moving. Kaka-sensei didn't have much to do. He even pretended to get killed. So he could 'see their reaction to real danger', or something. It might have been scary, but it was all over before she really got a chance to react.

Afterwards, Tazuna spilled the beans. Telling them about the shipping magnate Gato, and why the bridge he was building was so important. Of course, Naruto wanted to continue, and Sasuke was never afraid of anything. Even if she was a little nervous, it had all gone well. How much worse could it get?

After they arrived in the Land of Waves another missing-nin from Kiri, Momochi Zabuza, had attacked them. What followed was the largest, most impressive and terrifying display of power she had ever seen.

Sakura lived in a ninja village. And not just any ninja village either. She lived in Konoha. The strongest and oldest shinobi village in the world. She was even a ninja herself now. The stories she had heard about the legendary warriors of the Elemental Nations had inspired her to become a kunoichi. It was a dangerous profession, of course she knew that… but they were ninja! They were heroes! There was no better job. Ninja were the coolest, the strongest, the most beautiful and the best at everything. Everyone looked up to ninja, so of course she wanted to be one too.

Now she had seen her first real ninja battle. The aura alone was almost enough to choke her. The only thing stopping it from completely overwhelming her was Kakashi's continuous presence and the waves of positive intent he sent over to them. Kaka-sensei and Zabuza had battled it out on a lake. Although he was captured once, Naruto and Sasuke managed to get him free.

After that, all hell broke loose.

Sakura's first impression of Kakashi had been that of a mediocre, lazy ninja that didn't take his job seriously. He was late on the job, drawled in his speech, and read that perverted book everywhere he went. During the bell test, she had to reevaluate their teacher. They hadn't even stood a chance. Even though they all worked together, laid plans, and set up traps. Sakura could see he let them do it. Sure, Naruto's stupid technique had actually surprised him, but not enough that he'd totally let up his guard. She was mostly sure he let her take the bells. The battle she had just witnessed confirmed it.

That battle…

Almost everything happened faster than she could perceive it. The lake seemed to be at war with itself, rising and falling at the command of the two high-ranking ninja. Kunai and shuriken flew with impossible precision. Taijutsu was exchanged faster than her eyes could track. How Kaka-sensei managed to block that giant sword with nothing but a Kunai, was beyond her. In the end, Kakashi won. However, their match was interrupted when a hunter-nin from Kiri appeared. The newcomer killed Zabuza himself.

Shortly thereafter, their teacher collapsed. He woke up a little after they'd arrived at Tazuna's place. The old man had turned out to be a much nicer person after they had proved themselves capable and he wasn't completely drunk.

When Kakashi awoke, he explained to them what had actually happened when the hunter-nin had 'killed' Zabuza. So now they had two enemies… _great._

They were supposed to train tomorrow. Although Sakura doubted exactly how much that would help. According to Kakashi, they had about a week until Zabuza went after them again.

Sakura shifted restlessly on the futon. At least the sleeping quarters was comfortable.

* * *

All three genin stood before Kakashi as he leaned on a pair crutches. "Ok, let's review what you've learned up to now." All three students looked at each other, confused as to what their teacher was up to.

Not that he made much sense at the best of days.

"Eh… We have done the tree walking exercise, some teamwork training, and normal strength, stamina and speed training." Naruto began. He scratched his head as he tried to think of more. Sasuke continued where he left of. "We have worked on taijutsu, target practice and the beginnings of elemental manipulation." Kakashi nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Have any of you managed the jutsu I've shown you?" Both Naruto and Sasuke nodded while Sakura felt a blush staining her cheeks. She had tried. She really had. It was just that every time she practiced, she became so exhausted it was impossible to continue.

Kaka-sensei had given them each one elemental jutsu they could work on. The fact that he knew techniques from all five elements was nothing short of amazing. The ability to use all five natures was practically unheard of. Kakashi and the Sandaime were the only ones in the entirety of Konoha to master all five. At least they were the only known ones… it was a _ninja_ village after all.

The more she discovered about their sensei, the more it showed how amazing he was. Although his demeanor demanded no one take him seriously. It was actually somewhat scary.

"Show me." Their teacher demanded, looking at Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke went first, going through a short set of hand signs. "Raiton: Lightning wave!" As he spread his hands, arcs of lightning shot through the air. It crackled and smelled of ozone.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Impressive, that's quite a large radius." He complimented.

Their sensei looked over at the other boy, who was practically jumping with excitement. "Naruto." He said simply.

No further prompting needed, Naruto went through his own set of hand seals, ending on snake as he blew out from his mouth. "Futon: Great Breakthrough." A strong wind flew from his mouth, shooting upwards and ruffling the trees above them. Kakashi nodded, apparently satisfied. "Good. Great volume, but low efficiency, keep working on it."

Kakashi looked them all over with a critical eye. Naruto had no idea what their teacher was thinking, but he couldn't say he wasn't excited. After graduating the academy, he felt he had learned so much!

"So, you have all finished tree-walking. The next step is water walking. We are currently on an island, so that might be useful. However, our opponents are from Kirigakure. Rule number one when fighting someone from mist. Do not fight a mist-nin on water." Kakashi punctuated the last sentence with a hard stare, making sure they got the memo. Naruto could almost feel the red of the sharingan staring at him through Kakashi's headband.

"But you did Sensei!" He complained. How come he could and they couldn't?

Kakashi rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Well… I didn't have much choice, did I? So, do you want to walk on water or not?"

* * *

The second stage of their terrain training went much like the first one. Sakura managed it first, much to her pleasure and the boys' annoyance. It did take longer than the tree climbing exercise, though. The first one took a whole week for the boys.

If this one lasted any longer than that, they weren't going to learn anything until their week was up. "Ne, Sakura-chan. Can you give us some tips?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't say anything, but it was clear he was listening.

That was all the encouragement Sakura needed. "Well... It is similar to the tree walking exercise, but instead of a constant flow of chakra, it needs to always be adjusted. The water move and you have to compensate. Strengthening the surface tension only work when you stand on the surface. So don't channel chakra into your feet once you're under, or you'll just disrupt the water." She continued explaining about the anchoring element, and how it could be used to increase or decrease their friction on the water. She talked about water tension and chakra infusions. About halfway through, Naruto zoned out, not capable of following the increasingly complicated explanation.

Sasuke followed shortly thereafter, although Sakura didn't notice, she had completely lost herself in chakra theory and the physics of liquids. The two boys stared at her in amazement as she continued to ramble on and on.

"Sakura? When did you learn this?" Sasuke asked slowly. Sakura stopped her tirade and blushed. She hadn't realized what she'd done. Normally she tried to keep her inner nerd in check, but Sasuke's attention removed all her restraints. She wanted to impress him, not make him see her as some kind of weirdo.

"Eh… I like reading?" She shrugged, face burning red.

* * *

A cloudless night illuminated the land of Wave as Naruto sneaked through the house, trying to make as little noise as possible. He was a ninja, so that was very quiet. Only Kakashi noticed him go.

Naruto walked through the forest looking for a fitting place to train. When he found a clearing, he sat down and took out the rubber ball Raya had given him. Even if he were training something else, an actual attack jutsu would be very convenient right now.

"More power, eh?" He murmured as all of his focus centered on the small rubber ball. Chakra swerved around in all directions as his other hand tried to stabilize the chakra. The ball wiggled and stretched, but otherwise refused to pop or rip. Naruto was not deterred. If the jutsu had been easy, it wouldn't have been worth learning.

* * *

The next morning found Naruto passed out in the clearing. Sunlight streamed through the canopy in carefully strict light-beams.

A voice echoed through the forest. "You will catch a cold sleeping in a place like this."

* * *

The week Kakashi had given them was up, and all three genin were exceedingly nervous about the upcoming fight. Naruto and Sasuke was spending every waking moment on the water, trying to get the exercise down. While it did take longer to master than the tree climbing exercise, learning well enough to run wasn't too hard, and they weren't supposed to fight Mist ninja on water anyway.

The four of them walked together towards the bridge. Three ninja and their client. Normally, they would have one of them watching the house. This was the day the attack would most likely come however, and Naruto had gotten the idea to leave some shadow clones as guards.

As they approached the bridge, a familiar mist settled over them. "This is it. Be on your guard." Kakashi told them in a hushed voice.

As they arrived at the bride, they saw Zabuza and the mysterious hunter-nin that had taken him away. They were standing in the middle of the bridge, the bodies of several bridge builders lying between the two groups.

"Wha… What is this!?" Tazuna exclaimed in horror.

Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing the sharingan. The tomoe spun in lazy circles. "Don't bother with them. They're just water clones" He reassured the old man.

Zabuza's bandages stretched. "Ah, I should have known I couldn't fool you with something so basic. Long time no see, Kakashi." Kakashi inclined his head a bit, just enough to show mutual respect between two professional killers.

The henged water clones fell away as ten new ones appeared around the Konoha team. Kakashi barely reacted. "Sasuke, Naruto." A moment later, the water clones disappeared, several kunai flying through them. "Oho, looks like someone has improved. Haku, you take care of the brats."

The false hunter-nin nodded as Naruto and Sasuke squared their stances, ready for combat.

"Sakura, protect Tazuna. Naruto, Sasuke, the hunter-nin is yours." Naruto and Sasuke nodded, walking forward as one, their steps falling into a steady rhythm.

* * *

Sasuke looked over his shoulder. Sakura was covering their client and Kakashi was in a standoff with Zabuza. The first fight between the two jounin had reminded him how far he still had to go to reach _that_ man. It was a daunting prospect, but somehow also an exciting one. He shook those thoughts out of his mind. He had his own fight to focus on.

Naruto was standing to his right, and directly opposite to them was the false hunter-nin. The boy slowly took off his mask, revealed an almost impossibly feminine face and gentle eyes. It actually made Sasuke question if he was even a boy. "We meet again, Naruto-kun." Haku said calmly.

Naruto looked like someone had punched him in the gut. "You! But, how can you be…" Naruto exclaimed pointing at Haku in complete disbelief.

"Are these the precious people you want to protect?" Haku continued, apparently unbothered by Naruto's look of betrayal.

Throughout the following conversation, Sasuke was filled in on the details. This Haku person was apparently someone Naruto had met in the forest plucking flowers. Honestly, if Sasuke hadn't seen what his friend was capable of, he would swear up and down that Naruto was the world's worst ninja.

"But why?" Naruto insisted. Still disbelieving.

Was it truly so hard to believe he had been fooled? Sasuke wondered. He hadn't even known the boy for more than a few minutes.

"It is for the sake of Zabuza-sama. He is my most precious person, and I will do anything he asks of me." The boy repeated as he put on his fake hunter mask again. _Intimidation? Removal of facial cues?_ Suddenly, the temperature around them dropped dramatically and a thin layer of ice began spreading over the bridge.

Ice? Ice wasn't an element. He didn't have time to think more about that however, as dozens of senbon was thrown their way. Sasuke rolled to the side, never letting his eyes off their opponent.

As they tried to close the distance to Haku, they were met with two obstacles. The first was the obvious fact that their opponent had shorter range to hit them the closer they came, so they had less time to dodge. That he was deadly accurate with his senbon was also a factor. The other obstacle was the thin layer of ice under their feet. It made it hard to get a grip. Even sticking to it with chakra seemed to have limited effect, as the chakra infused in the ice interfered.

As fast as he could, Sasuke went through a set of hand seals. "Raiton: Lightning wave!" Sparks of chakra-powered electricity flew towards their opponent. The jutsu wasn't very destructive, but potentially damaging and hard to dodge.

Taking the cue, Naruto flung some kunai towards the fake hunter-nin. In response, the other boy went through his own set of hand seals.

The moisture in the air collected around him, froze over, and blocked Sasuke's lightning wave. Naruto's kunai he just plucked out of the air. Sasuke's expression firmed. That wasn't the first the time he had seen something like that happen. Kakashi-sensei did it all the time. This wasn't Kakashi however, and the fact that their opponent had reaction speed like that was worrying. Doing his best sticking to the ground, Sasuke gathered chakra to his leg and blurred forward. Haku dodged the first kick by a hairsbreadth, but the young genin could see the surprised face of his opponent.

The raven-haired boy still had a lot of momentum, so using it, he grabbed the ice-user and tossed him towards the bridge railing.

Kakashi seemed to relax a bit as the fight wore on. "Don't underestimate my brats Zabuza. Sasuke is the rookie of the year. Sakura is the brightest kunoichi in her generation, and Naruto is Konoha's number 1 unpredictable ninja. They won't be defeated so easily."

Zabuza observed the fight with a neutral expression, both him and Kakashi showing their faith in their students as neither pressed the attack.

After Kakashi's words however, a dry laugh began to build in the swordsman's throat. It built and built until it came out as full-blown laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA! Oh Kakashi, your brats have no idea what they have gotten themselves into!" A chill went down Kakashi's back as Zabuza smiled amusedly. "Show them, Haku."

Haku picked himself up from the ground, mask cracking and flaking off in places. "Hai, Zabuza-sama." He shook off his mask completely, his long black hair falling around his feminine frame.

The ice user started to go through hand seals. Unfortunately for him, Sasuke was too close, and the Uchiha was upon him before he finished. "As if I'd let you!" The Uchiha snarled. His kunai whistled through the air before stopping, being held at a stalemate by Haku's senbon. But instead of aborting the jutsu, he continued making seals with his single free arm.

Sasuke's eyes widened. _One-handed seals?_ He had never heard of anything like that before. Behind him, Kakashi made sounds of disbelief. Naruto was on the way, but he was too slow.

Long before the orange-clad Genin could reach them, their opponent called out. "Hyoton: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals." A large dome of Ice mirrors coalesced around the two Konoha-nin. Then Haku stepped _into_ one of the mirrors and disappeared. He reappeared only a second later, as the ice-user projected dozens of reflections of himself on every mirror that surrounded them.

Behind him, Sasuke could hear Kakashi finally starting his battle with Zabuza. A bit on the late side, as usual.

As they stood there, surrounded on all sides, hundreds of senbon descended down on them like a rain of death. They were almost impossible to dodge. They didn't have much other choice than to try though.

Both boys rolled, bolted, jumped and hand sprang to get clear of the senbon. They tried to get out through the opening between the mirrors, but the closer they got, the faster the needles flew towards them. At some point, Naruto tried a Futon: Great Breakthrough, but if it had any effect on the mirrors, Sasuke couldn't see it. He himself tried a Great Fireball, but it wasn't nearly hot enough to damage Haku's chakra enhanced ice.

The fight started floating together in an eternal dance of needles, pain and panic.

Sasuke's perception focused. He couldn't die here! He still had a man to kill! Everything went too fast. He couldn't keep up! Haku flew through the mirrors like a demon, achieving ridiculous speeds without even trying. He had no options, nothing he could do. He would die here. Naruto would die here. Naruto… the only friend he had left. Maybe the only friend he had, period. He wouldn't allow it. Couldn't allow it. _Never! Never again!_

He felt a rush of chakra as the world seemed to slow down. The senbon started to get easier to dodge. He could see each piece of wood and metal as they flew by him, and those already stuck in his body didn't hurt as much. _What's going on?_ He wondered, even though a part of his mind already knew. He saw himself in one of Haku's mirrors, red sharingan eyes blazed back at him. One tomoe in the right eye, and two in the left.

He almost stopped to stare at the reflection. However, he didn't fancy dying, so that would have to wait until later. 'The last Uchiha' allowed himself a satisfied smirk as he focused back on the fight.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, the motion somehow faster than it would have been before. The blond was still standing, but he was a lot worse off than Sasuke. He lacked the black haired boy's speed and agility, and had no convenient sharingan activation to help him.

A thought struck Sasuke. It was a plan, or rather, the start of a plan. He didn't have time for anything more though. "Naruto! Use your wind jutsu!"

Naruto looked over quickly, but soon had to focus on dodging again. "Tried it already! It doesn't work!" He shouted back.

Sasuke shook his head. They couldn't stay like this for much longer. "Just do it!"

Naruto looked uncertain, but complied nonetheless. The beat-up blond went through a series of hand seals, preparing for the jutsu.

They had never managed a combination jutsu before. Kakashi had them try a few times, but it always just blew up in their faces. Doing more damage than good. After that, Kakashi had decreed that it was probably too early.

Now they didn't have much choice. Naruto's wind jutsu wasn't strong enough by itself, and Sasuke's fireball wasn't hot enough. This time however, they had an advantage they didn't have before.

Sasuke watched Naruto carefully as he went through the hand seals. The sharingan saw the flow of chakra, the amount, volume, intensity and effectiveness of the Uzumaki's jutsu. The majority of the technique's energy was wasted, and only petered out as Naruto tried to form the jutsu. How he still had enough to cast it repeatedly so many times, Sasuke didn't know, but it wasn't important right now. Only the energy used on the actual jutsu did. The Uchiha went through his own set of hand seals and jumped to stand beside Naruto. Only focusing a little on dodging the incoming senbon, he kept the majority of his focus on balancing his chakra.

Harmony, coordination, chakra resonance. There were many names for it. Right now though, the only thing Sasuke could think about was winning this goddamn fight. So they could hopefully live a few more years. He still had things to do. A man to kill. And Naruto had to become Hokage.

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!" "Katon: Great Fireball!"

The two jutsu met at the start of their lives and combined perfectly. Haku's eyes widened in surprise as he jumped to another mirror. Less than a second later, the combination of fire and wind blasted through the ice dome and broke Haku's jutsu.

The kiri-nin staggered backwards and fell to one knee. The backlash from having his jutsu broken wasn't exactly comfortable. Sasuke and Naruto weren't any better off though. Both were riddled with senbon and could barely walk. Sasuke looked over at Naruto and smirked. "Glad to see you could at least follow instructions, dead last."

Naruto bristled, but eventually he smirked back. "Did you have to get those precious eyes of yours at the most dramatic moment?"

Sasuke was tempted to continue their bickering. But at that moment, the mist dissipated. There stood Zabuza. He was being kept in place by a pack of dogs as Kakashi prepared to run him through with a lightning covered hand.

Haku saw it as well. A desperate shout went up from the young boy, rattling anyone with a heart to hear. "Zabuza-sama!" A mirror manifested itself in front of the boy as he sprinted through it towards Zabuza and Kakashi. Sasuke could easily predict where Haku's path would take him. Heck, he probably didn't even need the sharingan to see it.

Naruto saw it too. His eyes widened in realization and horror as he watched Haku run towards the two jounin. Scenes flew through his mind faster than he managed to comprehend them. Haku in the woods, talking about protecting precious people. Zabuza, knocking Sakura out with the flat of his blade. Tazuna, talking about Gato and Kaiza. Inari's stubborn insistence that heroes didn't exist. Raya talking about people understanding one another.

How could he ever be Hokage if he couldn't even save someone like Haku?

Before he even realized what was happening, he felt his feet move. The senbon suddenly didn't matter. His pain didn't matter. Naruto's eyes had become red slits as the bridge cracked under his feet.

Somewhere in his subconscious, he could hear Sasuke shouting after him, but the meanings of the words were lost. Nothing mattered except Haku.

He had to save him. Save them.

Haku materialized in front of Zabuza. The kiri orphan held up his arms in a protective manner in front of the only person who had ever recognized him.

Kakashi's sharingan eye widened in surprise.

That was nothing however, compared to when Naruto jumped in front of Haku. Red, pleading eyes directed straight at the copy-ninja. Electricity flew through the air and stones cracked underneath Kakashi's feet, as the famous shinobi did everything in his power halt the attack. The Raikiri wasn't that easily stopped however. The legendary lightning cutter hit the young ninja. It pierced through muscles, flesh and bones, sending shocks of electricity surging through Naruto's already beat up body.

"NARUTO!"

He didn't quite know who had shouted. It could have been Sasuke or Sakura, or maybe even Haku. Kakashi stood like frozen, hand outstretched, staring into space. Staring, but not quite seeing.

Naruto fell, but not all the way to the ground.

Someone cradled him in their lap. A smell like flowers in the winter filled his nose. _Flowers and… rabbits?_ Naruto scrounged up his face. That didn't seem right…

He couldn't breathe properly. Each time he tried, it felt like someone had doused his body in fire. It was so hot. Everything was so warm. So very, very warm. Then he felt angry. He didn't quite know what he was angry at, but that didn't stop the rage. It came like a wave, a wave of red-hot boiling malice. _Destroy! Kill!_ Destroy what? Kill whom? _Everyone and everything!_ All senses had lost their meaning, all except sound.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this just horrible." A voice; slimy and dry, cut through the chaotic landscape of his mind. It came from somewhere behind him, somewhere…

"Ah, Zabuza, you couldn't keep our contract I see. The bridge builder is still alive." That meant something, he knew. Contract? What was this about a contract?

"Gato." Zabuza's voice, calm and collected. _Gato?_ This was Gato? The anger that had formerly been directionless lashed onto that thought. It focused and magnified a hundredfold. Sight came back. He was not lying on the ground. Haku was cradling him in an embrace, staring down at him in complete disbelief.

The burning didn't stop. It wouldn't stop. It felt like someone was pumping him full of too much air. Before he didn't have enough, now he had too much.

"Gato, what are you doing? We had an agreement. The bridge builder will soon be dead." The slimy voice made a few 'tsk tsk' noises. "But that's just it Zabuza, I never really meant to pay you in the first place. It's a brilliant tactic. Hire ninja to take care of all the complicated stuff. But then, ninja are so expensive. It is much simpler to kill them than to pay them. And no one cares if one or two missing-nin dies."

Silence reigned after this declaration. No one said anything.

Naruto struggled with his thoughts. His body shook as he looked over at where Gato's voice had come from.

There. A few meters away was a man in a business suit and a horde of thugs behind him. They were all armed with swords, clubs or some other kind of weapon. Naruto only had sight for the small man in the business suit however.

He rolled out of Haku's lap, thumping onto the ground wet with red liquid. His body didn't hurt so much now. Although the fire burned stronger than ever. He crawled to his feet, back hunched, and that terrible, terrible anger burning within him.

"You. You're Gato?" His voice sounded deeper, sharper. It didn't really register to Naruto tough. It was unimportant.

Gato looked uninterested, confident in his superior numbers. "Weren't you dead, brat? Well no matter, you will be soo-" He faltered.

During his little speech, Naruto had looked up. Demonic red staring the corrupt businessman dead in the eye.

Naruto didn't really understand where all this anger was coming from. Sure, he was angry at Gato, but this was something else. This was hate. Hate enough to kill a person. Hate enough to kill thousands. And it was all directed at Gato.

Gato's eyes widened as killing intent flooded the bridge. It was so thick it was almost tangible. Naruto screamed and clutched his head. All the pressure that had been building inside him exploded outwards in a flood of chakra. Red chakra.

He was clutching Gato by the throat before he even realized what was happening. Sharp nails digging into the terrified man's skin. Gato stared completely horrified at the twelve-year-old boy that had just been dying. The mercenaries stepped back fearfully, the killing intent oozing from Naruto stopping any thoughts of attack. A pair of older men turned and fled.

Zabuza stared wide eyed at Kakashi. "You- He is a…"

Kakashi didn't know if he should be relieved or worried. Then again, considering the alternative, this was by far the better option. He should probably stop his student before he did something he would regret though. "Don't say it." He ordered. Zabuza knew the answer anyway. It was staring him right in the face.

Naruto was panting, red chakra curled around his body, embracing him. His head was starting to clear up.

Something was wrong.

This didn't fit.

He had been stabbed by Kakashi's lightning technique, then… He looked down at his chest. His shirt and orange jacked had been destroyed. There was still a wound, but it knitted itself back together as he watched. The healing went slower and slower, and the clearer his head felt the more it hurt.

And there was blood.

Blood everywhere. His entire front was soaked in red, as if he had just emptied one of his paint buckets on himself. He looked back at Gato. _What was he about to do again?_ Oh, right. He was about to kill the worm. _Why would he do that?_ Images of the townspeople, of Inari, of Tazuna's story, floated through his head. Naruto snarled and shook his head. This wasn't right. He was still angry, but killing him wasn't the right choice. He knew that, so why did he want to do it so bad?

"Naruto!" A child's voice, a familiar voice.

Naruto turned his head. There, gathered in the hundreds was Inari and the villagers. Vague recollections of him kicking the crap out of some thugs with swords and speaking with Inari flew through his head. When had that happened?

They had come to rally against Gato. Come to stand up for themselves. That was what was supposed to happen.

He didn't have to kill Gato.

He shifted his attention back to the corrupt businessman. Red eyes melting back into the normal blue as he let go. Gato fell to the ground gasping and grasping his bleeding throat.

Darkness encroached upon Naruto's vision as he collapsed once again.

 **Author's Note: I actually managed the entirety of wave in one chapter. I am very pleased with that. Now there are just a few tie-ups that I have to do. I am really looking forward to the next chapter. Hopefully you will like it as well.**

 **Thanks for reading ;)**


	5. An Unexpected Visit

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – An Unexpected Visit:**

Naruto awoke in what seemed to be a sewer. The lighting was poor and the air felt humid. He sat up as his brain slowly rebooted. He looked around, trying to get a grip on exactly where he was, and what had happened.

The blond was sitting in a crossroad. It had four different tunnels leading in separate directions. Water splashed around his ankles and a small gust of wind blew through the corridors, making his golden hair whip around his face.

As Naruto rose to his feet, he noticed a few things. One; he was no longer covered in blood and his clothes were whole. The other thing was that he didn't hurt anymore. He had no wounds, or any other signs from his fight with Haku, or from Kakashi almost running him through with his Raikiri.

Somehow, this felt completely natural, and his mind dismissed it without much thought.

Trying to decide what to do next, Naruto studied his four options. The tunnels looked exactly the same. High ceiling and brown-ish walls. He did notice something else though, the lighting. It was clearly bright enough to see, but the light had no discernible source. It was as if someone had just decided that he should be able to see, but hadn't bothered to add a 'how'.

Another gust flew through the corridors. The water rippled, but the world was otherwise undisturbed.

For lack of a better idea, Naruto began walking towards the source of the wind. As he walked, he noticed the tunnels weren't uniform. There were pipes lining the walls and ceiling. Sometimes he saw a plant or two growing from random surfaces. Drops of water dripped from the pipes, making an even rhythm of water hitting water.

A few moments later, he noticed stuff floating in the liquid. A stick from a finished popsicle, and an eerily similar ball he couldn't quite put his finger on. After a few moments of walking, he noticed the lighting was beginning to change. It was becoming brighter, yet it reached no further than before. The air had suddenly become incredibly heavy.

Before he knew it, Naruto was standing in a large rectangular room. The ceiling had long since disappeared into darkness, not leaving any clues to its presence. A giant gate loomed before him, held together by nothing more than a flimsy piece of paper.

A foreboding feeling settled over the young genin as he tried to look behind the gate. He could almost make out a shape, but it was too dark, and the shape was too large to get a grip on.

A giant, red, slitted eye opened to stare at him. Stare into him.

Naruto was transfixed. The stare seemed to go right through his soul. The eye was filled with so much contempt, malice, and utter hatred, that Naruto had no doubt that if the owner could kill him, he would have done so a long time ago.

" **So… the jailer finally visits his prisoner."** The voice was deep and powerful. It reverberated through the chamber and shook the inexperienced ninja to his core.

"W-what are you?" Naruto asked.

Laughter like thunder flooded the chamber, as the shape behind the bars raised itself to its full height. Giant teeth stretched into a sinister smile as the giant form loomed over its human host. " **I am the greatest of the bijuu! The most powerful demon in existence! I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. And you, foolish mortal, are my host!"**

Naruto stared terrified at the giant form of the nine-tailed demon fox.

Thoughts whirled around Naruto's head, as his mind led him to a horrifying conclusion. "Y-you are the Kyuubi!? The demon that attacked Konoha twelve years ago!? But the Yondaime defeated you! You can't be here!"

If possible, the demon's grin became even more sinister. " **No mortal can kill a tailed-beast, human. I am immortal!"** Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it. He was afraid of the question he was going to ask next. "T-then, where are we?"

The Kyuubi yawned, sat down and curled his tails around his massive form. His host was probably going to be here for some time, and while it was fun to terrify the boy, he was too lazy to be standing all the time. " **We are inside the mental representation of the seal that holds me here. It is connected to your chakra, and thus your inner world. You are the one that maintains it, so you should know more about it than me. Now, enough chit-chat. We need to talk."**

Naruto still had dozens of questions swarming around in his head. But among those questions were also answers. The more he thought about it, the more it fit. He finally knew why all the villagers hated him. The insults and exclamations of 'demon child' and 'fox brat' should have made it obvious.

He felt like he should be angry, but only one thought stuck with him at the moment. "You know, chit-chat and talk is technically the same thing."

The Kyuubi stared at him as if he had just grown another head. An awkward silence descended over the two.

The Nine-tails decided to ignore the comment. " **What you just did was beyond foolish! Had Kakashi run you through, not even I could have saved you. As it is, I am still not certain I have. These bars restrict how much chakra I can send you, and you have lost far too much blood."**

Naruto stared at the giant fox with wide eyes. "W… why would you care if I die? I'm your host, right? 'Your jailer' as you called it. Wouldn't you go free if I died?"

Nine tails waved in irritation as the demon sneered in disgust. " **That would be nice, wouldn't it? No, unfortunately the Yondaime's seal bind us together. If you were to die, I would as well."**

Naruto scratched his head in confusion, apparently completely over the fact that he was talking to a giant demon of destruction.

Putting everything other than the immediate conversation to the back of his mind, Naruto continued. "But, you said you were immortal? So you can die then?"

The Kyuubi sighed in exasperation. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he expected anything different. He had watched his host throughout his entire life, after all. " **No. If you die, I would spend decades reforming. A terribly slow and painful process. Afterwards I would be weakened as I regain my old strength. I don't know if it would even work when I'm barely half of myself."**

If anything, Naruto looked even more confused. "Half of yourself? What are you talking about!?"

The Kyuubi was finished explaining things, however. He had something he wanted to discuss, and an unfocused pre-teen brat was not going to stop him.

" **If you ever try to kill yourself again, I will heal you as painfully as possible. My chakra will burn through your body like molten iron. I will heal you as slowly as your mortal body will allow, and drive your mind insane! Do you understand me, NINGEN!"** As the Kyuubi talked, the atmosphere in the room changed. It was as if gravity itself had suddenly increased tenfold. The air became thick and almost impossible to breathe through. Naruto felt like a mouse between the paws of a cat, or perhaps a very, very large fox. The killing intent in the room slowly increased to the point where Zabuza's dreadful aura was nothing but a puddle compared to the sea.

Naruto fell backwards and crawled fearfully away from the ancient demon. "I-I, I didn…" The Kyuubi fixed him with a stare so loaded with malice that Naruto stopped. Not daring to move another inch.

He only wanted to creep under his bed and stay there. Too bad this particular demon was something he couldn't run from.

" **You didn't what!? Try to kill yourself? Didn't try to jump in front of a blade of lighting, hoping to save someone you don't even know!?"**

Naruto looked thunderstruck, his terrified face quickly reforming to that of shame and rebelliousness. "B… but Haku would have..."

The Kyuubi sneered. " **It was his choice. You do not throw away your life, or mine, for some stranger you had one conversation with!"**

Silence loomed over the two of them as Naruto's brain tried to process the fact that the nine-tailed demon fox apparently wanted him alive. "You… You healed me, right? That's what you said. So we're still alive?"

The Kyuubi had calmed down somewhat from his tirade, but its contempt was still visible. " **You're alive… For now. I can do little more at this point, as your body can't take any more of my chakra without falling apart. Let's hope your friends on the outside can help."**

Hesitantly, Naruto looked up at the Kyuubi. The fox seemed smaller than when he first saw him, but that was probably because the demon was standing then, and Naruto was much closer. In fact, now that the dreadful aura was gone, the fox looked almost… _cute_? Naruto shook that thought out of his mind. If anyone ever knew he thought that, they would label him insane, including the Kyuubi itself.

The ancient fox closed his eyes. He had said his piece, and he was in no mood to answer everything the pathetic mortal would undoubtedly ask. He was determined to ignore whatever his host had to say until he woke up again.

Two small words still reached him behind the bars.

"Thank you."

A giant red eye opened to study the human in front of him. That was the first time in a thousand years he had been thanked for anything. He didn't quite know how to feel about that.

* * *

After the short conversation with the ancient demon in his gut, Naruto took to wandering the tunnels. There wasn't much else to do, and he didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon. If this really was his 'inner world' or whatever the Kyuubi had called it, there had to be something of interest here.

After just a few minutes of searching, he had indeed found something interesting. The ice-cream sticks floating in the water were from the same brand Ero-sennin always got him. The other random stuff was gifts he had received. Almost all of them were from the old toad, but he found a few gifts from the Sandaime as well.

Among them was a puzzle box he had never managed to solve before some kids stole it. He picked it up and studied it. He had been really sad when he lost the box, and hadn't dared to tell the old man. After a few years he had practically forgotten about it. The puzzle seemed really simple now, although he had been seven when he last tried it.

Naruto walked through the tunnels for about half an hour, simply looking for stuff. It was a maze down here, and sooner or later he always ended back in the giant room with the Kyuubi's prison. Maybe it was some sort of center? The fox had mentioned that he, 'the jailer', maintained it. Maybe that had something to do with it? It felt… weird. The fact that he had the Kyuubi sealed in his stomach should have terrified him. It should have made him rage at the world and curse the unfairness of it. But this was how it had always been. The Kyuubi had attacked at the date of his birth, so he had to have been there from the beginning. The only difference was that Naruto now knew about it.

Sure, he had lived a hard life. People calling him things, not wanting anything to do with him, and making their children stay away. But he knew there were others that had it worse. He was actually a little glad.

Sasuke had been born before him. If they had chosen Sasuke instead of him… He didn't know how his friend could have handled it, not on top of everything else he had to go through.

Naruto hadn't actually had it that bad. He had Ero-sennin, who had been there for as long as he could remember. Sure, he was out of the village often, doing ninja stuff. But when he was home, he spent several days together with Naruto. Talking, playing, and teaching him stuff. He had the hokage. Although he was almost always busy, the old man took time to speak with Naruto when he really needed it. He had Teuchi and Ayame, two people who always welcomed him. He had his teammates. Sasuke, someone he considered a brother in all but blood. Sakura, who he had always thought was pretty, but who liked Sasuke. His friends from the academy, Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji, and although they hadn't spent much time together, it was always nice to have someone that wouldn't shun him. His precious people…

A picture of Haku appeared in his mind. 'Precious people…' A hard glint entered his eyes as he decided then and there that he would make Haku one of those.

* * *

Kakashi went through the motions every jounin knew, but other than medic-nin, seldom used. Naruto had lost too much blood. He was white as a ghost and his heart was beating frantically, trying to get oxygen to various vital organs.

If his sensei's son died here… The same way… No. He wouldn't allow it. He would rather cut out his own heart and give it to Naruto.

Haku, Sasuke and Sakura were kneeling beside him. All three were in various states of distress. Sakura was crying, holding her hands in a prayer like gesture. Although Konoha didn't have any specific religion, traditions and superstition were hard to get rid of.

Kakashi didn't mind. If there was even the remotest of chances it could work, then she should damn well pray to every god under and over the sky. Sasuke's reaction was a little worrying. All he was doing was staring at Naruto's dying frame. Sharingan spinning like mad. Kakashi himself was using the sharingan as well, as he wouldn't let himself do a single mistake, chakra costs be damned.

Haku was the strangest of the three. Kakashi hadn't really been sure if he should let him stay, but after Zabuza had killed Gato, they technically weren't enemies anymore. And unless Haku was the best actor he had ever seen, he was genuinely distraught.

There were quite a few pros to ninja registration cards. One was of course the ID, but faking ones weren't that hard, so it was only sufficient for surface level security. Coordination and paperwork would have been almost impossible without them, but right now, the only feature important to Kakashi was the fact that they listed a ninja's blood type.

* * *

A giant thrum seemed to go through the entire mindscape. The Kyuubi lazily opened one eye just in time to see Naruto fall to his knees, clutching at his heart in a frantic gesture.

Both of the demon's eyes shot up. Was the boy really dying now? After he went through the trouble of lecturing the brat? It seemed so… anticlimactic. The demon fox gritted his teeth in frustration. If he got reincarnated, the masked man would find him long before he would be capable of fighting, if he got reincarnated at all, that is.

The sewer system around them began to disintegrate, slowly turning everything into a mesmerizing dance of white shards. Naruto screamed. He was lying in a fetal position in the middle of a white void, desperately clutching his head. He looked like he was trying to keep it from splitting open.

Then the white void gave way to colors, sound, smells and sensations.

At first it was just chaos, nothing that made any sense. For a being one thousand years old, the Kyuubi seldom experienced anything new. However, even for him, this was not something he had seen before. He had no idea what was happening. And although he wasn't scared, he was restless. He was powerless. That was not a feeling he felt often.

Although, if this was how dying felt like… It could have been a lot worse.

Naruto was still clutching his skull desperately as the world around him descended into white chaos. From time to time, a half-formed choke escaped him, but for the most part he was silent.

Slowly but surely, the chaos gave way for more comprehensible sensations.

First came the faces. Faces of men and women. Faces of children, teens, adults and older people. They became clearer as time passed, but there were none the Kyuubi recognized.

Then a very familiar woman with short silky red hair, two buns on each side and a noble dress appeared before them. After her came a strict looking, white-haired man with a happuri encompassing his face. It was adorned with Konoha's leaf symbol. The last one the Kyuubi recognized was a man with ridiculously long, unruly, black hair, red battle armor and red dojutsu.

" **Madara…"** The Kyuubi snarled.

Before he could do anything however, scenes began playing before them, or what seemed to be… memories? The faces were still there, but in the background, cycling though more and more, faster and faster. Almost all of the nine-tails' attention was fixed on the memories, however.

" _Hey, Indra. Race you to the river!"_

 _The black haired boy walking beside him turned in exasperation. "Why do you keep asking that, Ashura? You know I always win."_

 _A smile stretched over the younger brother's face as he placed his hands behind his head. "You never know. If I don't try, how will I ever beat you?"_

More memories followed. They came in no specific order, sometimes they were of Indra and Ashura. Other times they were about completely different people. There were hundreds of them. Life after life after life.

The memories often contained battles. Sometimes they were spars fought in early childhood. Sometimes they were skirmishes fought in early youth. Sometimes they were wars fought in adulthood.

Then there were the memories of Hashirama. They were clearer and more numerous than anyone else's. Even Ashura's.

" _Just watch me! I'm going to make it this time!" The stone flew straight, but didn't reach the opposite shore._

 _This sparked a violent reaction by the stone thrower. He turned around and pointed accusingly at him. "Oy, bastard! You stood behind me on purpose to distract me! I'm the type that can't even pee when someone's standing behind me!"_

 _Hashirama's head fell, dark clouds covering him as he entered his depressed state. "S-sorry." He said with utmost seriousness._

 _The black haired boy blinked confusedly. "Don't take it so seriously… I was only making excuses."_

 _Hashirama was almost crying at this point. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know that you had such an obnoxious self-diagnosed neurosis."_

" _Bastard! I can't tell if you're a nice guy or not!"_

 _Instantly, Hashirama were on his feet, laughing easily. "He, he. One thing's for sure, at least! I'm better than you at stone skipping!"_

 _The black haired boy seemed to take offense at that. "Oy! Do you want me to skip you instead!?"_

 _As if it had never left, Hashirama's depressed state was back. "I'm so s-sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. To make amends, I'll let you throw me into the river. So, go ahead. Throw me."_

 _The other boy sweatdropped. "Do you even notice your own neurosis?"_

 _The only thing Hashirama responded with was another depressed statement. "I just hope… I reach the other side…"_

 _This seemed to be the last straw for the dark-haired boy. "You're insufferable! Get lost!"_

 _Again, Hashirama was all smiles. Jumping back and forth between moods as easily as breathing. "Well, then. See you."_

 _That was apparently not what the other boy wanted though. "Wait a second!" He called out as he grabbed Hashirama's shoulder._

 _The Senju heir looked back, playing confused. "Which is it? Do you want me to leave or stay?"_

 _The other boy reacted like any other would have. "W-well, I…" Whatever he had been about to say was interrupted as the two boys noticing something floating in the river. It was a body._

" _That's…" Hashirama ran to examine the body, easily standing at the surface of the river._

" _You… You're a shinobi?"_

 _Hashirama saw no reason to answer the other boy. The fact that he was currently standing on water was as good an indication as he could give. Instead, he responded with what he had found._

" _This place is going to become a battlefield soon. Go home." He jumped to the other shore as he excused himself. "Sorry, but I've got to go… See you… eh?" Hashirama hesitated, realizing he hadn't gotten the black haired boy's name._

 _The boy smiled. "The name is Madara."_

Naruto and the Kyuubi saw Hashirama and Madara skipping stones. Hashirama talking with his siblings. Hashirama fighting. Hashirama being hit by his father. Hashirama dreaming about peace. They even bore witness of the founding of Konoha. Every significant memory of the man's life was laid before them, and Hashirama Senju had a lot of significant memories.

One memory, the Kyuubi knew very well. Although what he now saw came from an entirely different perspective.

The two of them watched as a battle of legends played out before them. Hashirama against Madara. The greatest battle fought since the Sage of the six paths sealed the ten-tails.

Mountains were torn asunder. The sky was ripped to pieces. The terrain was nothing but fleeting whims under the control of two titans. Hills and forests weren't even worth considering. Wood golem and dragon fought against perfect Susanoo and the entire might of the Kyuubi.

The jinchuriki and bijuu watched as Hashirama created the thousand-handed Buddha, and the valley of the end was created. It was all laid out before them in a battle that lasted one day and one night. Charka was so thick in the air that it was almost visible to the human eye.

Compared to this; Kakashi and Zabuza were like children fighting with toys they didn't understand.

The unbearable headache Naruto had been feeling was slowly getting better as time went on, but it was still churning in the background. The memories did not come in any sort of order. Not chronological, not even separated from life to life.

They didn't even have to make sense. They could even play simultaneously. But there was never a pause, never a point where the flood of memories stopped coming. There was never any _peace_. It was like someone had broken up a damn in a river, and all that was left was to let the water flow.

The battle between Hashirama and Madara was divided and segregated. Some parts were clearer than others, and some lasted longer than others. Eventually, it ended when Hashirama fooled his friend, and killed him with a sword through the back.

The memories came with more than just sight and sound. Memories also include sensations, smell, emotions and even state of mind. Naruto was affected by all of this as he remembered how it felt to kill his best friend.

Silent tears fell from the blond's eyes. He seldom cried anymore. He hadn't done so in years. He didn't cry. There was no point. It never helped anyway.

But he cried now, as guilt and shame churned in his stomach. The unbearable pressure of all these memories crashed down on him. He curled up, trying to get as small as he could possibly be. Doing all he could to shut away the sensations that came flooding in. Not because of his headache this time, although he could still feel it, but because of the despair and disappointment that came with lives full of murder and bloodshed.

Eventually, the stream of memories started to die down, although it never fully ended.

Around them, what had previously been a white void filled with chaos, had now calmed down to a surface of memories. Sitting on this lake of sensations was Naruto and the nine-tails.

"Hmm… This is unexpected."

Naruto turned around to come face to face with an elderly man with pale skin. He had a face made of nothing but wrinkles and a long grey beard, and unruly hair of the same color. His white monk garb fell below his feet as he floated in midair, directly above nine dark spheres that seemed to absorb all light that fell upon them.

The thing was… he _remembered_ this man. This was… " **Father!"** The Kyuubi exclaimed.

Surprise was no longer part of Naruto's vocabulary. This was so far out of left field that he simply turned that part of his brain off. Not that it would do him any good in this instance.

The old man smiled. "Ah, Kurama. It's good to see you, after so many years." Hagoromo Otsutsuki said.

The nine-tailed demon fox looked like a cat that had lost its catnip. " **You… How? How can you be here? What is this old man!? Tell me!"**

The white-clad monk was apparently surprised at this behavior. Raising an eyebrow in surprise. Purple ripple-patterned eyes glinted in the semi-darkness. "Now, now, Kurama. Have patience. All will be explained in due time. You were one of the calmer of the nine, if I remember correctly."

Kurama lowered his head to be about the same height as Hagoromo's, meeting his eyes as an equal. " **Times change, old man. I am no longer the kit I was back then."**

Hagoromo's very unusual eyes reflected a mix of fondness and sadness as he nodded in solemn understanding.

"Oy, old man. Are you…" Naruto couldn't get the word out. He didn't know if he had ever used it to be honest. There had never been any reason to.

"Your father?" Hagoromo finished for him.

Naruto swallowed and nodded. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. There were so many things that didn't make sense. So many questions that his brain screamed for him to ask, but out of all of them, this was the only one that truly mattered. No matter how impossible it was. No matter how little sense it made. He remembered… something about this man. He remembered his name, and also feelings, feelings of absolute safety and trust. Not unlike how he felt when he was together with Raya, but this was different. There was something… something else.

Uncertainty and pain was set plain on his face. He had never felt so vulnerable in his life.

Hagoromo smiled. It was a kind smile. A fatherly smile. "Yes. In an earlier life, I was your father." And there was the crux of the matter. Something he felt he absolutely _should_ know. The key piece of a puzzle. A crucial part of the pictures and memories that was now part of his mind. But he hadn't had any time to process any of it. It was always just more, more, MORE!

Even now, the images wouldn't stop coming, although the stream was much slower than earlier. His headache seemed to have taken on a life on its own. Sometimes it would hammer on the insides of his head. Other times it felt like his skull, and everything in it, had become highly acidic acid.

"I… I don't."

"Don't you remember, Ashura?"

The headache intensified as Naruto clutched his head. "Ashura… Hashirama… Naruto… I… I don't KNOW!"

Then Hagoromo spoke the word he had been looking for. The word that seemed to explain everything.

"Reincarnation."

Suddenly, the world seemed to make sense again. Although everything was totally askew from what it used to be. "I… I'm the reincarnation of your son? Of Ashura?"

The old monk that was his father, yet not, nodded. "I am one of your many fathers. The first, I think. You should be able to remember more, if you try hard enough."

Naruto nodded, and thought back to Hashirama's childhood.

"You still have your own father though, someone who was your parent in this life, and who love you just as much as I do. He is also quite formidable in his own right."

A warm glow filled Naruto as the words of his once-father reached him. His head snapped up expectantly. "Who?"

He didn't quite know why it was so important. Call it the nature of all orphans, a wish to know their parents. Or maybe Hagoromo's words had sparked something. At any rate, he wanted to know. He _needed_ to know.

Hagoromo smiled gently. "That is not my place to say." Naruto was about to protest, but the words died on his lips. He knew Hagoromo, knew him like only a son could know his father. He knew that once he had decided on something; it would take nothing short of a cataclysmic event to change his mind.

Hagoromo shifted in the air as he turned over the shakujo in his hands. The black material absorbing light in the same manner as the otherworldly orbs beneath him. He looked like he was contemplating something. Naruto waited.

"My mother, Kaguya." Hagoromo began slowly. He touched the water-like substance under them with his staff, making the liquid ripple and display unnervingly realistic images.

"She once held the world in the palm of her hand. People worshipped and feared her. Nations rose and fell at her whim. Even the gods trembled in her presence." Hagoromo shook his head slowly. "That is no way to rule. It was no better than the age of constant war that came before her. She sat alone at the top." His aged countenance seemed to fall even more as his frame sagged.

"Eventually… she lost her mind. We had to seal her away." Naruto looked up at the old man before him. He wasn't entirely sure when this had happened, but his new memories assured him it was a really, really long time ago.

"The Juubi?" Naruto asked hesitantly. The legend of the tailed beasts was a story Raya had told him. Although most had heard about the tailed beasts, their origins was almost forgotten, not to mention fragmented and unsure. The one Raya had eventually come back with had been a tale hidden amongst the monks library.

It was a story of how the Sage of Six paths once battled a great demon. "That really happened? You fought against the Juubi, and created the moon?"

Hagoromo stroked his beard thoughtfully. "The Juubi? Yes. After my mother lost her mind, she fused with the Shinju and transformed into a monster incapable of cognizant thought. It fed on the world itself. It never slept and lived only for destruction. Hamura and I were the only ones capable of stopping it. And so we did. We sealed the body in what is now known as the moon. The energy I took into myself, eventually splitting it in nine. From that I created the bijuu, the nine. I hoped they would act as protectors of this world. The personal guardian spirits of the elemental nations, watching over it as millennia passed. That was my hope. My plight. As I hoped Indra would accept my choice of heir." The old monk smiled sadly. "You may say I was naïve, or maybe even a little selfish."

Kurama huffed angrily. " **Protect it against what exactly? Itself? Humans were the ones that imprisoned us. Humans are the ones that continue to destroy themselves."**

Hagoromo inclined his head in acknowledgment as he continued his story. "For a time, I possessed the same power as my mother. For the time being, the people were thankful for the defeat of the Juubi. However, it wouldn't have been long before her fate befell me. I had realized my destiny, and it was time to pass on the torch. Since then, I have watched the world through the eyes of my sons, Indra and Ashura, as they are reincarnated in life after life." Hagoromo smiled at Naruto. The young boy listened intently.

"The only way to bring out my chakra is to combine the spirits of my two sons. That is how I am able to talk to you here, Naruto. Ashura's and Indra's chakra have been combined. Something that has only happened once before in the history of shinobi. Unfortunately, you are too early to receive my gift. Come back in a few years. I have a feeling you are going to need it." Hagoromo smiled a mischievous smile that reminded Naruto of himself when he had just played a particularly good prank.

Naruto put his head between his hands. It was all so much. Far too much! Still, the world seemed to make more sense now than it did in the chaotic stream of memories. It felt like the universe was rearranging itself, and his mind was struggling to keep up.

White spots began appearing at the edge of the lake. The world around them, which up until now had been relatively stable, was beginning to fall apart.

"We don't have much time. It was nice to meet you, Naruto. I think the future is in good hands. You as well, Kurama. Try to put your animosity aside. You are both my children, and I love you both. Naruto. Kurama. Try to take care of each other. And good luck. You will need it." The old man's smile was the last thing that disappeared as the world transformed into the blank slate of a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. His head had decided that today was a good day to explode, and as such it was trying it's hardest to do just that. A moan escaped him as he rolled over to the side. The movement got him tangled in the white sheets of the bed he had been sleeping in. His head hurt far too much for him to be bothered with it, however.

A sound of a book being closed resounded through Naruto's skull. He wasn't entirely sure if it happened inside or outside of it. "So, you're awake."

The familiar drawl made Naruto relax ever so slightly. He was safe. "K-Kaka-sensei? W-where…? W-what…?" He never got any further in his questioning before his head demanded every part of his attention again.

Kakashi's calm and lazy voice cut through the pain with crystal clarity. "We are in Konoha hospital. You were dying. You had lost too much blood, so we had to give you some more. Then I carried you here as fast as I could. You have been asleep for the better part of three days." Naruto grunted again. Three days? It felt like several lifetimes…

"Sleep for now. We will talk more when you are ready." Naruto didn't think he could sleep with this kind of headache, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind he was already halfway to dreamland.

"W-who, who was?" There was one thing he had to know before he drifted back to sleep again. He dreaded the answer, but at the same time he was excited at the prospect.

"W-who was the donor?" Naruto managed. If Kakashi thought the question odd, he didn't mention it. All he said was a name. "Sasuke"

 **Author's note:**

 **So... as I have mentioned before, my updates will be sporadic. I actually wrote half of this chapter the day after the previous one was released, and finished 90% after 3 to 4 days. However, I kept adding and rewriting stuff. Plus I had a lot of other stuff to do.**

 **I am not the best writer. This entire fic was actually made mostly because I want to learn to write better. English is not my native language, and I have been told I have a mild form of dyslexia.**

 **Some of the pros of fanfiction compared to normal published work is the fact that writers can edit their work, even after it's published. As such, I will be continually updating my chapters. Not of any story related subjects, of course, but if I find mistakes, I will immediately correct them. The same is true if any of you report flaws I made in the reviews or in a message to me. I will correct any mistake I get notified about, both writing and grammatical errors, no matter how old the chapter is.**

* * *

 **This is my hardest chapter yet, and as you may have seen; it is a turning point of my story. I kept arguing with myself if Hagoromo's 'visit' was too soon or not. In any other media, it probably would have been too early. However, this is fanfiction. Everyone that reads it should have read/watched the original work, so I decided to go ahead with it. Most, if not all, the twist used in canon is 'used up' so to speak. You should all know about the whole 'reincarnation' thing, and so there is little reason why Naruto shouldn't know about it as well.**

 **I have read a few other reincarnation fics. However, they never use the Ashura/Hashirama cycle, which is actually canon. I feel it has a lot more potential than just some random 'important' ninja being reborn. It is also sometimes used to bypass the whole 'training part' and put Naruto, or whoever is reincarnated, up at the highest level of fighting.**

 **I will not be doing that. Naruto will gain nothing power-wise from this. At the very most just more/different chakra, as spiritual and mental energy is affected by experiences. And our favorite orange-clad ninja just got a whole lot of experiences just crammed into his head. He will not suddenly be able to use Mokuton, or know techniques which he shouldn't know. He has a memory that he once used them. That does not mean he knows how to do it. Although, he might find a little easier to learn those techniques. Kekkei Genkai is still out of the question though.**

 **I am using this chapter as a chance for future character development. As well as giving Naruto some context as to what is happening around him. Still, I want you to remember that Naruto didn't get ALL the memories of the earlier transmigrants. Not even Hashirama's. He just got some significant memories. Those special memories his soul remembered even after death.**

 **The reason why all the memories are so chaotic is simply because the soul/spirit is not a computer. It doesn't sort events in a chronological order. Rather, the soul sorts memories out of what impacts it the most. Emotions. The soul remembers the most emotional moments the best, regardless of when it happened.**

 **The most impactful and strongest transmigrant of them all was Hashirama. He is the most important, so naturally I gave him the title of the strongest. He is also the one Naruto remembers best. Second is Ashura.**

 **He has lived a lot of other lives as well. However, none are ever mentioned in the canon material, and they aren't really that important. I might explore it at a later time, but I doubt it. There's really no reason to.**

 **I hope you have enjoyed the story so far, and will continue reading. I find that I enjoy feedback surprisingly much, so I would highly appreciate any reviews you post.**

 **Thank you for reading. :)**

 **Ps.** **In the manga/anime we had a scene of Hagoromo adjusting his speech so Naruto could understand him. I didn't include this here simply because it would disrupt the story, and we have all read/watched the joke before. In-universe you could say Naruto instinctively remembered how to talk like Hagoromo because he has Ashura's and the earlier transmigrants' memories.**


	6. Unwinding

_Disclaimer: The truth of who owns what, and who can lay claim to certain material, and immaterial possessions is murky. Under no interpretation do I own Naruto though. (I don't even own a single volume) :/_

* * *

 **Chapter 6 - Unwinding:**

Uzumaki Naruto drank in the sight of the village he was born in. He was sitting at his normal spot atop the hokage monument. Grey clouds billowed overhead, threatening shinobi and civilian alike with rain.

The sound of wood hitting stone came from behind him. The kabuki sandals clacking against the Yondaime's stone head were making an unnecessary amount of noise for any ninja. Especially this ninja.

"So… kid. Don't you think that was a little dramatic for a simple C-rank mission?"

Naruto turned away in a huff, answering a little indignantly. "It wasn't my fault." The Sannin unceremoniously slumped down beside Naruto.

They sat there for a few moments, neither saying anything.

Eventually, Jiraiya broke the silence. "So… How was your talk with Kakashi?"

Naruto winced. He had been dreading this conversation. "Oh, you know… The usual."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "He told me not to jump in front of deadly jutsus." Naruto clarified.

The toad sage hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, that might be a good idea."

Naruto looked down at the white T-shirt he was currently wearing. "I got a keepsake though." The Genin pulled his shirt down, careful not to rip it.

In the middle of his chest, half hidden behind the white fabric of his shirt was a large, lightning-shaped scar. Strands of burnt tissue snaked their way in every direction. It began between the ribs and spread outwards to his sides. One of the lines even touched the base of his neck, although it was only barely noticeable.

The strange thing was that it was fully healed. If Jiraiya hadn't known better, he would have sworn the scar had been there for years.

The toad sage studied the scar for a second before breaking out in a good-natured laugh. "Ha! In a few years you'll be grateful for that! Girls can't stay away from scars."

Naruto smiled to himself. "Yeah, I imagine that'll be fun."

Jiraiya stopped his laugh in order to study his student. This time it was the face and not the scar he looked at. "Is something the matter, Naruto? You look like there's something on your mind."

Naruto looked away, watching the clouds over the village drift just as the first few drops began to fall. "Kaka-sensei said they might throw me out of the ninja-corps. They can't have 'unstable' ninja representing the village or something." Jiraiya was silent for a moment, feeling the beginning of what would likely be a very large amount of water settling in his hair.

"And what do you think of that?" He asked carefully.

He knew Naruto well, but the orange ball of energy wasn't the most unpredictable ninja in Konoha for nothing. Again, Naruto proved his title as he threw up his arms in exasperation. "Complete bullshit! No one but the Hokage can throw out people from the ninja-corps, and he would never do something so stupid as to throw out the village's jinchuriki."

Jiraiya very carefully didn't react. "So, you know about that, do you?"

All he got was a short nod from Naruto as the genin's wet hair swished through the air.

"Since when?" Jiraiya insisted. He couldn't imagine Naruto hiding something like that from him.

"Since wave." Naruto admitted, before he came with an even bigger admission. "I talked to him, you know."

The older ninja's eyes widened. "You talked to the Kyuubi?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded again. "Yeah. He came with the same speech Kaka-sensei forced me through. Although I must say, Kurama was a little more forceful about it. Apparently, neither of them like that I jump in front of jutsus. Do you think I should stop?"

Jiraiya laughed a short and hearty laugh. "Yeah. I think you should." Then his brain caught up with what his student had said. "Wait, Kurama? It told you its name!?"

Naruto scrunched his face together. "He. Kurama is a he." The blond scratched his head in confusion for a moment. "Or at least I think so…"

" _Oy, Kurama. Are you male?"_

Naruto could almost feel the irritated swish of nine tails as the demon in his belly answered. " _ **Bijuu doesn't reproduce. However, our father made us in the image of a gender, so in that way. Yes. I am male."**_

Naruto shook his head. All of that was too complicated for him to think about right now. "Yes, he is male."

Jiraiya looked at him with a mix of incredulity and wonder. "You can… talk with him?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. He's quite grumpy, but alright once you get to know him. He doesn't like to talk much though, and he sleeps way, way too much."

Jiraiya shook his head in wonder. Perhaps his plan of making Naruto utilize the Kyuubi's chakra wasn't going to be so hard after all.

They sat silently side by side for a while, neither making any gesture to get up. The rain was raging now, completely dousing the two shinobi. Further down they could see civilians running from one dry place to another, trying to escape the water.

Suddenly, Naruto spoke. His voice was so soft it almost drowned in the drum of the rain.

" _Futile is the flight of the damned_

 _Running, running, running, running_

 _Endlessly we run, to a place with no harbor_

 _There is no escape, no safe place_

 _Izanagi, Izanami, hear my plea_

 _Take us where the black water don't flow_

 _Away, away – where the black water don't flow"_

Jiraiya looked over at his student, positively surprised. "Poetry? Where did you learn that?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Now that he was finished, it didn't sound nearly as good as it did in his head. "Who knows? A previous life perhaps?"

Jiraiya's lips tugged upwards. "Oh, a riddle is it?" Naruto shook his head. He hesitated, but eventually he just plunged into it.

"Raya… What do you think happens after we die?"

The Sannin cupped his chin in thought. Was this what was plaguing his student? "Hmm… I honestly can't tell you. After what I have seen, only a fool would dispute the existence of souls. You could even say they are the very basis of chakra. But what happens after this meat-bag of a body is gone… I can't tell you."

Naruto looked at the person he trusted most in the world. If he couldn't tell him, then who could he tell? Kurama was still silent, so he took that as a sign it was up to him.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Jiraiya looked into his student's eyes. Blue meeting black. Slowly the older shinobi looked away. "I used to believe in it. I once met someone… No. It doesn't matter, he's dead."

Jiraiya went silent for a minute, and then another minute. "It may be true." He started, after a full three minutes. "However, even if it was, it makes no difference. I am no monk seeking the truth of life and the universe. I have never looked for escape from the circle of rebirth, from Samsara. I am alive right now, as are you, and that is what matters. Whether we will be reborn after we die, or if we have lived hundreds of lives before, matters little for the present. The only thing we can do anything about is the life we are given right now. I want to make this life the best it can be. Whether or not there is life after death makes no difference. There's nothing you can do about it. So why bother? The Shinigami comes for everyone, after all."

Naruto was silent for a long while. Water fell from the sky like someone had dumped an ocean on top of them. Almost every civilian had gotten inside, but there were still a few ninja that either had missions to complete, or like them, simply didn't care.

Naruto stood up, standing on two legs as he looked down at the still sitting toad summoner. "I remember."

Jiraiya sat perfectly still, his face not betraying any of his thoughts. "What do you remember, Naruto?"

The question was asked in such a monotone and careful voice that Naruto almost winced. That was not how Raya talked to him.

"I remember a previous life. Or rather, parts of several previous lives."

Jiraiya didn't say anything for quite some time. He just sat there, looking intently at Naruto. The orange-clad genin did not look away.

Finally Jiraiya spoke. "Who?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder, straight at the other side of the monument. He could remember a time when this mountain only held one face. His face.

Jiraiya followed his student's gaze. All the hairs on his body stood on end even before he understood what he was looking at. His eyes widened and his jaw almost dropped. "Y-you're the reincarnation of Hashirama? THE Hashirama Senju!? The Shodai Hokage? You've got to be kidding!?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not kidding. I can remember most of Hashirama's life. Or at least the important parts."

Slowly but surely, Naruto explained everything that happened since Kakashi stabbed him. The only thing he didn't say was _how_ his memories had been restored. He felt that was as much Sasuke's secret as his own. Jiraiya wasn't stupid however. Naruto knew he noticed the inconsistency, but the Sannin didn't comment. Sometimes, Naruto loved living in a ninja village. Secrets were just another part of life, ever-present and unavoidable. If you trusted someone, you didn't pry into their secrets. That was both a written and unwritten rule of shinobi culture.

When he finished, Naruto was once again sitting down. The young shinobi was leaning against the older ninja's sturdy frame. Their clothes consisted of more water than cloth at this point, but neither made any mention of getting up. Naruto didn't feel particularly cold, but Jiraiya was practically radiating heat. It was probably a chakra exercise or something. He would have to ask about it later.

"So… Do you believe me?" Jiraiya hadn't said a single word since Naruto had begun explaining his highly unusual predicament.

Finally, the white haired jounin took a deep breath before he answered. "So, let me get this straight. You are the reincarnation of someone called Ashura, the son of the Sage of the Six Paths? You were reborn again and again in hundreds of lives to fight against your brother? In a never ending war that is what we think about as the era of warring clans? You, or Ashura, were also the founder of the Senju-clan…"

"And Uzumaki." Naruto quickly added.

"… and his brother is the founder of the Uchiha-clan? The last 'Transmigrant', as you called it, was Senju Hashirama. The 'god of shinobi'? And the brother reincarnated as Uchiha Madara?"

Naruto smiled his usual over-energetic smile and nodded. "That's right!" The toad sage just stared at him.

A deep laugh began to build up within Jiraiya, eventually ending in a roar as he rolled around atop of Minato's stone head, hitting the stone in a perfect expression of his absolute amusement.

Naruto stared at his favorite person in the world, the sting of betrayal churning in his stomach. "Y-you don't believe me? Don't laugh at me!"

Jiraiya quickly sat up, trying to hold back another wave of laughter. "Oh, I believe you. I couldn't detect any signs of lying when you were talking, and what I have seen certainly doesn't exclude something like this. It's just that…" Here he had to stop again as another fit of laughter overcame him. "What is with my students? This has to be some kind of cosmic joke!"

Naruto tilted his head trying to understand this 'joke'. "Huh?"

Jiraiya waved him off. Trying to calm himself before continuing the conversation. "I need to take you to mount Myoboku sometime. The great toad sage would probably want to talk to you. Have you been practicing your summoning by the way?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as water rained down from the drenched blond mop. "Eh, I have summoned Gamakichi and Gamatatsu a few times, but I haven't managed anything more than that."

Jiraiya looked dubious, but nodded, seemingly content. "I didn't really expect you to either. Summoning can be quite hard. Now that you know about the Kyuubi we can try using it's…" Naruto stared hard at his teacher. "… Eh, _his_ chakra. Who knows, maybe you could even summon Gamabunta."

Naruto sighed and nodded. "I'll ask him. I have no idea if he'll say yes though."

Jiraiya nodded, satisfied. "So… You're not some super-ultra-god ninja now that you remember all your previous lives?"

Naruto looked taken aback by the question. He tilted his head from side to side, seemingly trying to remember something. "Honestly. I haven't tried."

Jiraiya almost face planted on his previous student's stone face.

"Well then… Try!"

Naruto nodded and went through three seals, ending on snake. "Mokuton: Moku Bunshin no Jutsu"

Nothing happened.

Jiraiya almost gave a sigh of relief.

"Well, chakra is both physical and spiritual. Makes sense you can't do Mokuton, what about the rest." Jiraiya asked. He knew it would technically be a boon for both Naruto and Konoha if their jinchuriki suddenly became an S-class shinobi. But honestly, he was looking forward to teaching the brat, and it kind of seemed like cheating.

Naruto was silent for a moment, studying his hands as rain crashed down around them. Then he shook his head. "I can't do it. Hashirama is the only one I remember well enough to get something that specific out of it."

Then he beamed up at Jiraiya, as if he wasn't the least bit disturbed by the missed opportunity. "You'll just have to teach me, Ero-sennin!"

The toad sage hummed and leaned forward. His hair, now five times heavier than normal, fell around his shoulders. "So, have you come any further with the Rasengan then?" Naruto looked up in sudden interest. He had almost forgotten about that jutsu. Before all the stuff with souls and reincarnation, he couldn't imagine anything more exciting than finally learning that elusive technique.

"Yeah! I popped the ball!" He shouted at the legendary ninja, who in turn raised an eyebrow in interest.

"Oh, show me."

Naruto fished around in the pocket of his orange jacket, finally producing a punctured rubber ball with a relatively small hole in it. "It didn't burst completely, but…"

Jiraiya studied the ball for a moment before nodding. "Good, you made some progress. Now you have to completely destroy the ball. It isn't good enough to just puncture it."

Naruto nodded, determination burning in his eyes.

"For that we will need a whole bunch of rubber balls. Do you want to start tomorrow or…?" Jiraiya began.

Naruto shook his head violently. "I want to train now! There is a whole laundry list of things I want to do, and I'm not good enough yet. Where do we go Ero-sennin?"

Fifteen minutes later Naruto found himself in one of his more personal training spots.

Konoha was filled with places to train. It had dozens, if not hundreds of dojos. Over fifty large training grounds mostly used for team-training and battle simulations. It had an untold number of more private, small training areas spread all over the place.

Some were indoors, some were outdoors, some were popular, and some were not. Naruto's favorite training area was a few dozen meters away from the hot-spring, thus making it his usual place. Here he had a much easier time finding Jiraiya than anywhere else. The pervert was at least predictable.

The white-haired ninja had left half an hour ago, though. Claiming this was something Naruto had to do on his own. Thanks to the rain, there was no one in the outside baths, so the perverted ninja had little reason to stay.

Oh well.

He would probably crash at Naruto's place again. It didn't seem to occur to the Sannin that he owned his own house somewhere in the village. Thanks to the books he sold, he was even moderately rich. Ninja of Jiraiya's caliber weren't exactly in financial straits either.

* * *

Somewhere in a well populated casino, a blonde woman sneezed, thus making her perfectly cast dice to turn another time. Tsunade cursed. After Shizune had calmed her down somewhat, the Senju heir swore vengeance against whomever it had been that made her sneeze.

* * *

Naruto stared down at the spiral mark painted on his palm. It reminded him of the Konoha leaf symbol.

 _Concentrate. Concentrate._

His chakra began spinning around inside the rubber ball, getting denser and denser as the ball pulled and stretched in every direction. _Build it up to the point where there simply isn't enough space. Don't let it escape._

The ball popped. Naruto sighed.

At least there were two puncture points instead of one, which was some progress, he supposed. Naruto pulled up a new ball. It was a shame he hadn't gotten to ask Raya about his parents. He was certain the old pervert knew something. He could ask later.

* * *

Sasuke went through the familiar motions of the Uchiha taijutsu style. Most of the art was second nature to him by now, but there were parts of it that still escaped him. Some moves he was simply not strong enough, or large enough, to fully utilize.

While his body worked, unbothered by the rain pouring down around him, his mind raced a million miles an hour.

He had the sharingan now. Something he had tried to achieve for as long as he could remember. The focus it gave him was intoxicating. Even now, he could see the individual rain drops as they passed him, as if they all fell in slow motion.

It was a legend in his clan that an Uchiha kenjutsu master could stand in a rainstorm without getting a single drop on him. Sasuke wanted to reach that level. He wanted to learn kenjutsu. A few words Itachi had said before the massacre stopped him however.

" _A sword is an extension of yourself. It is a tool used by skilled and precise shinobi. It does have a few drawbacks however. Firstly, it offers less utility than a kunai, who can be used for all sorts of tasks. The other is that while your body grows, your sword does not. That is why you should only begin with kenjutsu after you are finished, or almost finished, growing. Otherwise you will have to learn it all over again."_

It was weird how Itachi had never been averse to teaching him theory, or helping him with homework, even though he never wanted to train with him. Sasuke cut off that thought before it could go any further. That way led madness and despair.

Another thing he had been thinking about ever since that fateful mission was Naruto.

That idiot had flung himself in front of a deadly S-rank jutsu without any hesitation. It would have been heroic if it hadn't been so damnably stupid. Somehow, SOMEHOW, the idiot had survived.

He would never forget the sight of Naruto dying on the now newly named 'Great Naruto Bridge'. And that wasn't just because of the sharingan's photographic memory.

It felt almost as if Naruto was supposed to die, but fate herself intervened. People don't survive being pierced through the chest by a blade of pure lightning. It doesn't matter how much blood Sasuke was willing to give.

People don't survive that. It doesn't happen.

Sasuke had been sure Naruto was a goner. It was almost perfectly set up, too. Naruto being Naruto had thrown himself in front of the enemy to save them. He would even have gotten a bridge named after him as a last tribute. Sasuke, who had just awakened the sharingan would have gone one step further and awoken the same eyes as his brother, thereby gaining the power to kill him. A small part, a very, very small part of him was almost disappointed it didn't happen. Then the rest of him hated himself for even considering the notion.

Then there was the red chakra. He, as everyone else, had felt the immense amount of bloodlust rolling off of Naruto as he held up Gato. Sasuke was sure his friend would kill the bastard, but alas. One does not simply predict what Naruto is going to do. He had gone to visit the orange goofball at the hospital a few times, but the blond had always been asleep, so Sasuke had quickly left. The last time he had visited however, the nurses and doctors were running around looking everywhere for him. Just two days ago, he had been in critical condition.

Naruto had apparently just left, deciding that hospitals were boring. Sasuke shook his head bemusedly. He could understand that feeling. He had been to the hospital a few times himself. The idiot was probably out training. Although he might not be. It was impossible to tell with Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi was standing in front of the memorial stone as he often did. Although he had gone there less than normal the last two months. It was amazing how the three troublemakers managed to take up so much off his time.

The last mission had seen him back here more than he was strictly comfortable with, however.

He had prepared a strict lecture for when Naruto woke up. It wasn't really his style, but he felt that it had to be done. But Naruto was only barely listening to him when he woke. Eventually, Kakashi had come with his threat of removing the foolish genin from the ninja-corps.

Naruto had countered with the fact that he was a jinchuriki, a virtual living weapon, and that any military establishment would have to be idiots to remove him over something like this. Kakashi had been shocked to say the least. Naruto shouldn't even know what a jinchuriki was, much less the fact that he was one himself.

He could probably get the hokage to agree to suspend Naruto from ninja activities for a few weeks, maybe even a few months.

Still… It wouldn't serve any purpose other than Kakashi being petty.

As Naruto said, the village really wasn't in great shape, and Naruto's potential as both a ninja and jinchuriki was not something it could just ignore in favor of sheltering a sensitive personality.

He had known that from the beginning of course, but Naruto shouldn't have that information. And even if he did, making that deduction was also something the genin shouldn't be able to do. Alas, Naruto was Naruto, and trying to tell him what he could and could not do was an exercise in futility. Kakashi had learned that much from just two months of teaching the brats.

"You can come out now, Jiraiya-sama. What do you want to talk about?" Kakashi eventually conceded.

The white-haired shinobi appeared beside Kakashi in a swirl of leaves. "Now, Kakashi. Why are you looking so glum? Nobody died." Kakashi looked over at the senior ninja, his face unreadable before a heavy sigh escaped from behind his mask.

"What am I doing, Jiraiya-sama? I'm not a teacher. I'm a shinobi. I'm an assassin and a killer, not someone to take care of a group of kids."

Jiraiya looked over at the genius jounin, a curious glint in his eyes. "No sensei actually knows what they are doing. I've trained two teams. You would have thought I knew what I was doing, at least by the second try. Nope. I was just winging it, the same as you, and undoubtedly the same as Minato."

"Naruto. That kid is just so…" Kakashi gestured in the air, trying to find the right word. "…different." He finished lamely.

The Sannin smiled as he looked back at the black memorial stone. Many of his friends' names were carved into it as well. You didn't get to be a ninja of his age without losing people.

"Maybe that's what we need." The red-coated jounin started. "The constant war and hatred flowing through the shinobi world…" A mischievous smile played at his lips. "I have a feeling he won't just accept it."

Kakashi was silent for a moment, processing Jiraiya's words.

"The Chunin Exam is coming up. Do you think I should let them enter?" The younger asked.

Jiraiya hummed thoughtfully before grinning. "Well, that's up to you. Do you think they're ready?"

Kakashi didn't answer, but he did stand a little straighter. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama."

The toad summoner chuckled before clapping Kakashi on the back, a little harder than strictly necessary. "No problem kiddo!" He said before disappearing in a whirl of leaves and rain.

Kakashi looked after the sannin before disappearing in a similar way himself.

Behind a tree a few meters back, a black cloaked man emerged from the shadows. His head turned to the memorial for a moment before disappearing again.

* * *

Jiraiya walked through the rain of the village. Seals were the only reason the giant scroll on his back wasn't already ruined.

He pondered what Naruto had told him.

Reincarnation.

It seemed to be such a wild concept, but he had no doubt Naruto was telling the truth. Now the question was what to do with such knowledge. He could do nothing, acting as if everything was the same. Or...

He looked up at the Hokage tower he was currently standing under. He could tell Sarutobi-sensei. Let the old man figure everything out. But it really wasn't his secret to tell, nor was it his style. He had no idea how Naruto would react. His student no doubt knew it was a possibility, and that if the sannin judged the risk high enough, he was well within his right to tell the Hokage.

The first thing he needed to figure out was what all of this meant. If it even meant anything at all.

Uchiha and Senju.

Uzumaki was the sister clan to the Senju. The two was said to have split off at some point during the era of the warring states. Even though there were nearly no documented information from that time, that fact was at the very least a secure assumption.

So Ashura was the founder of those two clans. Or at least their precursor. And Indra was the precursor of the Uchiha. The four people Naruto had mentioned were Ashura, Indra, Hashirama and Madara.

Including Naruto, that pointed to a system where the transmigrants were somehow connected via blood. So taking a leap of logic, that meant that the current resurrection of Indra would be an Uchiha. Assuming he didn't die in the Uchiha massacre, which would be far too convenient. That narrowed it down to two people. One of which was at the scene when Naruto regained his memories. It wasn't very hard to get the rest from there.

Now the question was why they were reincarnated in the first place. As far as he understood, reincarnation usually took a long time. Or at least that was the general belief. Hashirama had died only a little over thirty years before Naruto was born, and the general gist he had gotten from Naruto was that he had been reborn again and again over one thousand years…

Jiraiya messed up his hair in frustration. This was getting nowhere.

He had a toad sage to speak to and books to read. He would have to visit the fire temple the next time he had the chance.

* * *

Hiruzen puffed on his pipe as he went through the usual mountain of paperwork. You should think that it would be easier to do after years of practice. Somehow, it seemed to be the exact opposite.

Rain and wind was howling outside his window, making the wood creak. He should probably go to bed soon, it was getting late, but against his better judgment he continued anyway.

Half an hour later, the third Hokage filled out and signed the last paper. It was a mission from a few high-ranking nobles. They wanted escort and protection to and from Konoha for the upcoming Chunin Exams. It was still a bit early, but the nobles wanted the best ninja they could get their hands on.

Normally it would have been his assistants that handled such matters, but the nobles had paid for an A-rank, so A-rank it was. Thank the Sage for rich people with more money than they knew what to do with.

As the hokage stood up, he took a piece of paper he had already read. Kakashi's last report.

As he walked through the tower, he mulled over the issue. Naruto was certainly not just any other ninja. It would be beyond foolish to take any permanent action because of something like this. Hiruzen scratched his beard absentmindedly (he really loved that beard).

Naruto was bullheaded, but he was pretty sure Kakashi and Jiraiya could get through to him. Self-sacrifice was an admirable trait for a ninja, but there were limits.

As he exited the Hokage tower, the rain almost assaulted him in its ferociousness. He was about to use shunshin to get to the home faster, but the flash of a red coat and white hair stopped him.

Jiraiya waved at his teacher as he exited the office. He made his way over quickly, ignoring the incredulous look his sensei was giving him. "Jiraiya, you look like a wet dog that got tossed in the ocean." Sarutobi told him flatly.

The toad sage looked affronted at that. "Oy, I do _not_ look like a dog! Thank you very much. If anything, I am a toad. We like water. Spare those remarks to the Inuzuka or Kakashi."

Hiruzen smiled to himself. Jiraiya truly was his most loyal student. "Was there something you wanted?"

The sannin hesitated. He seemed to be debating something with himself, but eventually he just scratched the back of his very wet head. "Nah, have a good night Sarutobi-sensei." Hiruzen nodded at his student before disappearing in the wisp of a shunshin.

 **Author's note: You may have noticed that my intro spiel is gone. Yes it is. The reason is simply because I have gone through most of what I want to go through. Those intro sequences were there for you, the reader, to understand how I see the world of Naruto. I do have a few others I want to write, but I'm in no hurry. They probably fit better at specific chapters anyway. I will write more, but I don't know when I'll write them.**

 **The timeline I'm using is Seelantau's NewTimeline on the Naruto wiki. (Google it if you're curious) It seems to be the most accurate and logical timeline I have found so far. I'm not following it religiously, but I am using it as a basis for gaps in time and such. Did you know Konoha was founded just about fifty years before Naruto was born? Yeah, I know. That's not very much is it?**

 **In other news, I'm entering the army the 11** **th** **of August. I have no idea of what to expect. I may not get any time to write, or I may get more. I have no idea.**

 **Anyway, this is going to be a long story. Like... really long. I want to go through all of the first series, all of shipudden, and maybe even longer. I have no idea how many chapters that will take. I also have no idea if I will ever be able to finish it. I want to try however. There might be large amounts of time where I don't update. Whether that's because I feel like it or real life gets in the way. I won't be apologizing for that. This is secondary to... well, life.**

 **I also have a few other things I want to write, one of them being an original story. That'll take a few years to finish however... If I ever do.**

 **Thanks for reading, and enjoy the story. :)**


	7. Intruders

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – Intruders:**

Naruto woke a few minutes before sunlight. His mind was barely cognizant as the alarm echoed through his small apartment. During the night, the heavens had dropped every ounce of water it had on top of them. Making the day a most mesmerizing blue.

The blond jinchuriki turned around in his bed, studying the wall for a moment through a sleep-addled complexion.

There were flowers at his bedside table.

He didn't usually have flowers in his apartment. He had tried a few times before, in order to 'liven things up' as it were, but he always forgot to water them. So they died after a few weeks.

This time, someone else had bought it for him. The flowers had been sitting at his table when he woke up in the hospital. The thing was… He had no idea who had bought them.

Kakashi claimed he had no idea. Sasuke would never do something like that in a million years, and it really wasn't Ero-sennin's style either. He wondered for a moment if it could have been Sakura, but if so, why hadn't there been a card or something? He didn't know anyone else well enough for them to give him flowers. Well except maybe the Hokage. The Hokage giving him flowers didn't seem very likely though.

He got up slowly, walking to the bathroom more dead than alive. Before anything else, he filled up a mug of water and went to water the new plants. For some reason, he really didn't want them to die.

Going through his morning routine, Naruto began to wake up in earnest. Quickly inhaling four pieces of bread without any topping, he opened the window and jumped to the nearest roof. No point in taking the door when this way was faster anyway.

He hadn't actually spoken to Kakashi since the reprimand yesterday, but he hadn't gotten any news that they shouldn't meet up.

Arriving at team 7's usual meeting place, Naruto landed right behind Sakura, utilizing all of his stealth skills to be as quiet as possible. "BOO!" He shouted.

The pink haired girl jumped five feet in the air before spinning around and sending him sprawling over the side of the bridge. "Jeez, Naruto. Don't do that!" She seemed to catch herself as she looked down the edge of the wooden construct.

The whiskered boy was sitting on top of the water nursing his bruised chin. "That wasn't very nice Sakura-chan."

Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief before crossing her arms in a huff. "Honestly. You were just released from the hospital." Seeing Naruto up and about, without any visible signs of damage, managed remove some of the tension she hadn't even realized she had. "Are you sure you're ok, Naruto? You didn't look… You weren't…" She teetered out, not knowing quite what to say.

The ramen loving genin ran up the side of the bride, coming face to face with his female teammate. "Don't worry about it Sakura-chan. I'm fine." Naruto answered with a reassuring smile and hands behind his head. Sakura didn't look very reassured, but she did seem slightly calmer. "By the way, where is Sasuke? I don't see him."

Sakura looked down at that, not meeting his eyes. He had apparently touched on a sensitive subject. "He's training alone. He won't be here until sensei arrives."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Well, we can't have any of that! We're a team!"

A moment later, a perfect copy of Naruto stood a few feet away. It was grinning the same idiotic grin as the original. "Go find Sasuke-teme and bring him here. We have some training to do." Naruto ordered his clone, punching his fists together to emphasize the point.

The clone grinned a little too excitedly before saluting. "Yes, boss."

As the clone ran to get Sasuke, Naruto looked back at his other teammate. "So, what are you doing?" He asked, his head tilted almost 45 degrees.

Sakura smiled and held up a book. 'A beginner's guide to medicine and iryojutsu' "I kind of figured… well. After wave… We probably need a medic on the team…" She bit her lip, looking down insecurely. "I can't do anything yet, but eventually…"

Poor Sakura, she looked more insecure than he had ever seen her. Naruto smiled. "I think that's a great idea Sakura-chan! Oh, and did you give me flowers?"

Sakura blanched at the sudden change in topic, before looking away a little guiltily. "N-No, I didn't. Sasuke-kun might get the wrong idea. B-but, it wasn't like I didn't care. It was just… I…"

Naruto waved her off good-naturedly. "That's ok, Sakura-chan. I was just wondering who gave them to me. Because someone did, and I can't figure out who."

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata went through the motions of the Kaiten as Kiba waved through her attacks with little difficulty, eventually using a combination move with Akamaru to knock her down.

Kurenai frowned.

A few minutes later, Kiba and Shino were sparring.

"Is something the matter Hinata? You seem distracted." Kurenai asked, squatting down beside her student.

Hinata shook her head meekly. Kurenai was one of the few people she felt somewhat secure around, that didn't mean she would just open her heart to the older woman though.

"I-it's nothing. I was just thinking."

She could see that Kurenai weren't satisfied with that explanation, but the red-eyed jounin just sighed and nodded. She was determined to make Hinata into the great kunoichi she knew she could be, no matter how long it took.

* * *

The Naruto clone had just entered the Uchiha district was trying to listen for any irregularities in the background silence. Even if Sasuke didn't live here, he did come here to train. The bastard technically owned every house and piece of land on the entire property, including the training grounds. So he could train as much as he wanted, for as long as he wanted, without anyone telling him not to. The choice of training grounds probably helped with motivation as well, no matter how morbid that thought was.

"Sasuke! Get out here!" Naruto shouted, tired of trying to find the bastard.

The Uchiha could come to him instead. Naruto wasn't technically allowed to be here, unless Sasuke invited him. Not that the clone cared that much about that though.

Two kunai flew through the air, hitting right in front of his feet. Naruto froze. If those kunai had missed by just a few inches, he could have lost his toes. If he had been the real Naruto, of course. "Oy, what's the big idea, Teme!"

Sasuke was standing atop one of the lower buildings, smirking down at him with red eyes and tossing a kunai up and down in his left hand.

He had clearly been practicing.

His clothes were ripped and scorched all over, despite the robust material they were made of. "Heh, I knew you wouldn't stay down for long." Sasuke said as he jumped down to Naruto's level. He looked at the blond boy with his newly acquired sharingan. The quiet lasted only for a moment before Sasuke broke the silence again. "Fight me."

The clone grinned. "I was about to ask the same thing. You have to meet up at the bridge, though. I'm just a copy." Before Sasuke could say anything else, the clone dispelled.

* * *

Naruto blinked as a new set of memories flowed into his mind. He wasn't entirely sure when he had realized it, but yesterday he had gotten quite a lot of time for himself. He had used that time to think about everything that had happened to him, big and small. Buried under all the excitement of his first mission, and crushed under the weight of hundreds of years' worth of memories, was a weak sensation of something he shouldn't have experienced: He had kicked the crap out of two swordsmen and talked to Inari. He shouldn't have been able to do that, as he wasn't there.

His clones had been though.

After that, Naruto had tested his hypothesis, and sure enough.

He received the memories of his clones.

The fact that he hadn't realized this sooner was terribly embarrassing. He'd been using them for years, and he noticed it first now? He guessed it had something to do with only using them in combat, and the fact that his real self was always there. His brain just ignored all the duplicate memories, as they were just wasted space. If he concentrated, he thought he could remember some details in those fights he really shouldn't remember.

Well, he knew it now, and he was going to exploit the hell out it. Currently he had two clones in the library (hopefully) reading some history books. The fact that his mind was practically the golden grail for any historian did not mean he had all the details. In fact, he lacked so many details that he wanted to find out more. Which was why he was now reading books in the first place… _reading... ugh_. He really dreaded the moment when all those boring memories would come back to him. Not that he had much hope of finding anything of interest. Correctly recorded history was about as common as toads made of gold.

During the Sengoku Jidai it had been common practice for most clans to steal any books they found. If it was regarded as valuable information, the clan would store the books in their own library, never letting anyone but their most senior members read them. If they didn't like what was in the volumes, they would burn them. Depending on which clan the books originally belonged to, they might even be destroyed immediately.

This was a practice Hashirama, and many of his previous incarnations, despised. It wasn't until the shodai Hokage's time that he had actually managed to do anything about it though. During the first Five Kage Summit, that had been one of the issues on the list. Somewhere between world peace and demon trading.

Hashirama had actually managed to make all the Kage agree to stop altering history for their own benefit. Essentially making history books a protected item. Not that the hidden villages really adhered to this rule, not even Konoha. The law still stood however, and the situation had gotten better. Information about fifty years ago was much more numerous, although not completely reliable. If you wanted to go even further back, the only real option was to visit the ninsho's temples and hope you got lucky. If you even got permissions to see their precious books in the first place.

You may also try to find some hidden storage space, and hope those that created it liked history. There was a problem there as well though. Such storage chambers were essentially treasure chambers, and were… well… secret.

There was a bunch of them hidden all over the elemental nations, mostly created by ninja as private stashes or hiding places. The practice was still ongoing today. As an unofficial rule that no one followed you should not make one on enemy territory.

"Yo, dead last. I got your message."

Sakura bit her lip as she looked between the two boys. "Is this really a good idea? Naruto just got out of the hospital?"

* * *

The two male genin were currently staring at each other from opposite sides of a clearing. Ninja tools ready and chakra burning with excitement.

Sasuke wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to fight Naruto so bad. Ever since wave, ever since that red chakra, he had wondered who would win if Naruto ever went that far against him. He had no idea what it was, but it was definitely powerful. Plus, he had the sharingan now. He wanted to see how much he had improved against another ninja. He was tired of throwing at goal posts.

"It's fine Sakura-chan. I'm as healed as I'm going to get. And I really want to kick Sasuke's ass." Naruto beamed.

Sakura seemed slightly placated, until she heard the last bit. "Please, like you could ever beat Sasuke-kun. Isn't that right Sasuke-kun?"

During the two months team seven had been together, Sasuke had gotten to know his two teammates a little better, despite his best efforts. Surprisingly, Sakura had gotten less annoying as time went on. Perhaps he just got used to her haggling, or maybe it was because she had stopped asking him out after every single practice session. Whatever the reason, she was definitely irritating now.

"Hn." Was his only response.

Both boys broadened their stance in anticipation for the upcoming fight.

They both started with taijutsu. Maybe because of some common understanding that this was more a measure of skill than an actual fight, or maybe because they just felt like it.

Naruto threw a punch that Sasuke blocked with ease. Not be deterred, the blond boy followed up with several punches and kicks, all of which was blocked with equal ease despite Naruto doing everything he could to throw Sasuke off guard. He ran through a set of overly complicated and completely unpredictable combos, yet none of them connected.

Sasuke was reading everything before it happened. Then a clone popped out of seemingly nowhere. Any normal ninja would have been surprised.

The sharingan was not.

Eyes red as fire, Sasuke had seen the chakra emanating from the henged stone before the match even started. As such, it was barely more threatening than an agitated fly.

Almost as soon as it had revealed itself, the clone was pierced by a flying shuriken. A kunai soon flew after it, sticking it to a three with expert precision.

Sasuke held a piece of ninja wire in his mouth as he and Naruto danced back and forth in a dance of violence. With the precognitive abilities of the Sharingan, Sasuke could no longer be surprised by any taijutsu move. Not even Naruto's. At least, that was what he thought.

Before Naruto spit in his face.

He saw the move coming, but didn't truly believe it would happen until it was already too late. Sure, they were ninja, dirty fighting was in their blood. Still… _spitting_ on him?

A kick to the face sent Sasuke flying to the ground. He had lost the ninja wire. Damn it.

"Your eyes aren't perfect Sasuke. Surprise is more a part of the mind than the senses anyway. Your mind can see farther than any set of eyes would ever allow." Naruto commented, running towards him with kunai in hand.

Sasuke wiped the spit off his face, the beginning of something ugly forming in his stomach. Naruto had gotten the first real hit? Ridiculous.

The two boys met in the middle, kunai against kunai, chakra burning in the air between them.

As the deadly steel swished through the air, the Sharingan's advantage became quickly apparent. The Uchiha style was specifically tailored to the clan's legendary Kekkei Genkai. With or without tools. Sasuke's attack was ferocious. It drove Naruto back as he resisted the other boy's advance with everything he could. Small cuts began appearing on the orange genin's arms and upper body as the Uchiha continued his assault.

Naruto dodged two shuriken thrown at him by jumping backwards into the air. As he was falling however, three new kunai raced towards him. He deflected one, but the two others cut through his pants and drew more blood from the blond.

As he landed, Naruto smiled at his raven-haired friend. "You're really good, you know that?"

Sasuke only narrowed his eyes. If he couldn't beat one genin, how could ever hope to challenge his brother?

Before the rookie-of-the-year could close the distance, Naruto went through a set of practiced hand seals. Sasuke could clearly see the signs, but it wasn't a jutsu he had seen before. Judging by the signs, it was probably a wind technique, so Sasuke responded in kind.

Sure enough, when Naruto finished the required seals he clapped his hand together with a shout. "Futon: Wind Blade!"

A single edge of air and chakra shot towards the Uchiha, just as Sasuke finished his own jutsu. "Katon: Flame Destroyer!"

Wind and fire clashed. Two ancient elements called forth to battle by two twelve-year-olds. In a usual matchup, fire trumped wind every time. Not this time however. Naruto had gotten much more time charging his jutsu than his opponent. Sasuke had been rushed, and hadn't put as much energy as he wanted into the jutsu. They were also fundamentally different techniques.

Naruto's jutsu had more chakra, was more sophisticated, and had more build-up than Sasuke's.

The Katon jutsu was just a huge amount of fire with little to no shape manipulation. It made it easy and quick to use, but it had little destructive potential unless you overloaded it with chakra.

The wind technique was one Kakashi had shown Naruto in the week between Zabuza's attacks. Kakashi had used it with three hand signs and summoned five blades without breaking a sweat. Naruto had to use eight signs, and could only do one blade. He only managed the technique yesterday, after finishing the second step of the Rasengan training.

Sasuke's fire jutsu came from the Uchiha library. It was primarily used by several shinobi in combination with each other, trying to overwhelm the enemy with a tsunami of fire. In a contest with a concentrated line of energy with a superior amount of chakra, it stood little chance.

That didn't mean the fire disappeared however. Instead, it was split in two. The wind technique took some of the fire with it, as the blond's jutsu continued on its original vector.

Naruto stood firmly in place as a wave of fire crashed around him. Sasuke had jumped out of the way right before the fire enhanced wind blade exploded through the tree behind him.

Sasuke stared at the aftermath of Naruto's technique.

That could have killed him.

Somehow, that only made him more excited. The fire died down quickly, as it failed to catch anything burnable before its chakra was used up.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto. Naruto smirked back.

The Uchiha was breathing heavily, the other less so. The orange-clad genin had taken more damage though, even if the cuts was already beginning to heal.

Naruto did a double take as Sasuke put his fingers in a cross sign. Sure, he had shown him the jutsu, but Sasuke couldn't honestly think he would win in a match between clones?

Chakra surged as a perfect copy of Sasuke stood beside him, both going into deep crouches for their next move. Two pair of half-matured Sharingan eyes gazed at their opponent. "I'll show you how to really use this technique, Naruto." One of the two Uchiha taunted as he drew a set of shuriken. The other drew an equal set of kunai

Naruto snorted in disbelief. "Show me? I'll show you! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Hundreds of Naruto clones appeared in a burst of chakra smoke, all grinning down at their outnumbered opponents.

Sasuke got his surprise under control before the hoard of clones descended on them. _How can he make that many? That's insane! The amount of chakra… No, this is good. If I take them all out he won't have any energy left._ As he thought, Sasuke and his clone sent his tools in seemingly random directions. Every kunai pierced the hole in the middle of a shuriken, fastening them even stronger to the trees they hit.

As the flood of orange approached, Sasuke held the ram seal as his clone went through a very specific sign sequence to a special fire technique.

The army of Narutos were only a few feet away now. Sasuke's coils was brimming with chakra itching to be released. Which was what he did the moment his clone finished its seals and touched the wires Sasuke had been holding this entire time.

Sasuke's clone burst as it used up all its energy at once. Fire danced along the wire, quickly surrounding the entire clearing. The rookie-of-the-year hadn't left any openings. All thanks to the shuriken/kunai combination he had been setting up since the beginning of the match.

Not every kunai and shuriken was connected to each other through the wire. Nevertheless, those that weren't still connected to the others via the fire itself.

While normal kunai and shuriken were not great at channeling chakra, being mostly steel, they were still better than most other objects a ninja could find. Sasuke had bathed them in his chakra since before the match even started. Now they acted as lightning rods for his fire technique.

The lines of fire engulfed their small arena. All of it originating from the middle, where Sasuke stood. It snaked its way across the steel rope and leapt from one point to another as their energy levels became too high for a single wire to hold. The Uchiha had overloaded the jutsu with twice the amount of chakra he was usually able to channel.

The Naruto clones threw themselves at their creator, trying to shield him from the furious heat of the flames. They popped like balloons in a child's birthday party, expelling smoke everywhere.

The end was quick and abrupt.

As the clones disappeared, they revealed the original lying on the ground, covered in small burn marks and with a kunai pressed to his throat.

Eyes once again black from lack of chakra, Sasuke stood over Naruto, victorious.

Another hand held back the kunai still pressed against Naruto's skin. Kakashi stood beside them, studying both his students with a sharp expression completely out of place on their normally uncaring sensei.

"Sasuke." A short command.

The Uchiha relaxed his grip. For a moment, he was really going for the kill. Some part of his soul screamed at him to finish the fight. To slit his teammate's throat. If Kakashi hadn't stopped him, he didn't know whether he would have done it or not.

Naruto groaned as he sat up. Part of his clothes had been burned off, and his skin was pink and red in places where the fire touched him. He had no serious wounds, but several small ones like cuts, bruises and now burns littered his body. Exhaustion was his most prevalent feeling however. Creating that many clones was taxing, even for him.

Inside his mind, Naruto could hear Kurama's irritated scoff as the giant fox retreated farther into his cage. The bijuu had been watching, apparently.

"Sasuke. Naruto." The tone was sharp, and not in any way the lazy drawl they had come to expect from the silver haired jounin. The two genin snapped to attention, as if ordered by the Hokage himself.

"While sparring is one of the most common activities for shinobi, this was not sparring. It was fighting." All three was silent for a moment as Kakashi studied his two students. "Not only did you not take precautions towards the other's safety, but you disregarded the presence of spectators as well. Had I not stepped in, Sakura could have been seriously hurt, even killed."

Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes widened as they both searched for their third teammate. Sakura was standing at the opposite side of the clearing with a startled expression, apparently having no idea how she got there. The place where she had been just a few moments prior was scorched black, and even burning from the remnants of the fire technique.

"I–" Naruto began.

Kakashi cut him off before he could begin. "Sasuke, did you try to kill Naruto?"

Sasuke was quiet as he stared down at the blackened ground. "I don't know." He answered eventually. Kakashi seemed to accept that answer as Naruto looked at his friend.

The Uchiha was still looking at the ground, refusing to meet any of their eyes. "It's ok, Sasuke. I think I tried to kill you too for a second there." The black-haired boy looked back up at Naruto, his face expressionless. Then he broke into a mocking smirk. "As if you could ever kill me, dead last." As Naruto verbally retaliated, Kakashi noticed a relieved glint in the older boy's onyx eyes.

* * *

"Why didn't you use it?" Sasuke asked after today's mission was over.

Naruto turned his head, pretending not to know what Sasuke was talking about. "It?" The Uchiha gave him a hard stare, letting him know there was no point in playing dumb.

"The red chakra. Why didn't you use it? You would have won."

Naruto hummed. "It's not something meant to be used in a fight against comrades."

Sasuke was quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking through Naruto's statement. "Next time." He eventually said. "Use it next time."

Naruto smiled as he felt Kurama's excitement bubble up within him. Clearly, he wanted to stretch his muscles as well. Even if it only was a small fraction of what the bijuu was capable of. The fact that they was fighting an Uchiha probably had something to do with it as well. "Sure." Naruto said, already looking forward to the next match, whenever that would be.

* * *

The next week was remarkably tame for team seven. Everything seemed to be the same as it had been before wave. They went back to cleaning houses, walking dogs and catching cats… normal D-rank missions. A few things were different however. For one, Naruto and Sasuke no longer competed for every little thing they did.

They still kept their rivalry, but who could paint the fastest didn't seem as important anymore. Sasuke also seemed to pay more attention to Sakura. Well… at least he didn't continuously ignore her dating requests anymore. Instead, he just said no. Still… It didn't seem like the love-struck girl was very disheartened by that.

At the end of the missions, Naruto would run off to do some solo training, even forgetting Kakashi's promise to take them to Ichiraku's once.

When Sakura asked him what he was doing, Naruto just smiled and said, "Just wait a few more days. I'll show you soon."

At the start of another day, just the same as all the others, a falcon flew over them. The genin didn't think much of it, falcons flew everywhere in Konoha.

Kakashi recognized its flight pattern though. "Take this day off kids. I have a few things I need to take care of." Then he disappeared in a swirl of green leaves.

The three students looked at each other. Kakashi had never just run off like that. Well, maybe he had. However, that had only been in the middle of a mission... meaning, he ran off when they were doing D-rank missions. He never did anything on those anyway, preferring to sleep in a tree nearby or read his perverted books.

Sasuke shrugged indifferently and began walking towards the Uchiha grounds. More time for training was always good for him. Sakura came running after him, calling his name and asking him out as usual.

Naruto was about to go do his own training. He was _soooo_ close to finishing what he was working on. Especially after he had come up with that genius trick a few days ago.

Before he even got the chance to take a single step however, he was assaulted by a blur of childish energy. "Hey, Boss! Play ninja with us!" Konohamaru shouted as he tackled Naruto to the ground.

Or rather, tried.

The Naruto he tackled burst into smoke the moment the clone touched the ground. "Konohamaru? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked disbelievingly, sitting 90 degrees on the wall of the nearest building. God, he loved doing that. It looked so cool!

"Ha! I knew you wouldn't see us! We hid under this fantastic disguise." The 'disguise' as he called it was a cardboard box with a bit of brown cloth over it, and two holes for seeing through.

Naruto sweatdropped. He had no idea what that was supposed to be.

"Konohamaru-kun, we didn't have time to hide, they left too quickly." Udon sniffed. In response, Konohamaru hushed him, laying a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture.

"Boss, you promised you would play ninja with us!"

Naruto scrunched his brow together. Had he promised that? He couldn't remember. "Eh, well…"

"Great, you're it. We go and hide!" the young Sarutobi shouted, as he, Udon and Moegi all ran in the same direction. Naruto had to stop himself from face palming. When playing ninja, you was supposed to run in opposite directions, making it harder for the one trying to catch them.

Oh, well. If he truly had promised, he didn't really have a choice. Both Sakura and Sasuke had disappeared somewhere anyway.

As he ran after them, not caring to count after they had gone out of sight, he heard a hard 'oomph!'. That was certainly no academy student, but it didn't sound like a grown up either.

As he rounded the corner, he saw a boy a little older than he was. He was holding up Konohamaru by his shirt, staring daggers at him. "That hurt you little shit."

The boy was clothed almost entirely in black, with a white package on his back. He had strange paint on his face and didn't seem to be used to smiling.

Most importantly though, he wore a Suna headband instead of a Konoha headband.

Naruto was instantly on-guard. Why were they in the village?

His brain fired all sorts of neurons as it tried to come up with an answer. He went through century's worth of memories, all of which was equally useless. Hashirama had tried to start some sort of collaborations with the other villages, but other than taking the convenient super-weapons he gave them, and agreeing to a few superficial rules, he hadn't really managed much.

The first ninja war started right after Hashirama died. He was apparently the only thing keeping the fragile peace from collapsing. That gave Naruto a whole new respect for the Sandaime, managing to keep the peace for so long. He really needed to step up his game if was to become Hokage himself.

Naruto walked slowly over to the foreign ninja. "Please put him down, shinobi-san." The blond's personality had completely changed from his usual outgoing nature. Now, he was the reflection of calm.

He was ready to substitute with Konohamaru at any moment. It was hard to substitute with another living being, especially those with developed chakra. They could fight back, and often instinctively did. Even if the technique was for their own benefit. However, all you really had to do was overpower them with more chakra. Naruto had more than enough energy to overpower any academy student.

The foreign ninja smirked at him. "And why should I?"

The blond girl next to the black-clad bastard appeared uncomfortable. She was clearly the guy's teammate. "Just let him go Kankuro, we don't want to get into trouble so soon after arriving."

The Suna shinobi, Kankuro, shifted slightly under his teammates stare but didn't back down. "Come on, Temari… I'm just having a bit of fun. I don't like brats that don't watch where they're going. It makes me want to kill them."

Naruto frowned. The Suna-nin was clearly bluffing. That would be incredibly stupid. He was in a foreign ninja village, and surrounded on all fronts by potential threats. Killing a kid now, not to mention the grandchild of the third Hokage, was tantamount to suicide.

As Kankuro lifted his hand to give Konohamaru a beating, Naruto suddenly didn't care anymore. No matter what Kankuro's end-goal was, Naruto was not letting anyone in his village get hurt. Less than a second later, he stood beside the Suna-nin, holding back his arm.

 _Fast_ Temari thought as her eyes widened.

"I said… **let him go.** " The blond's eyes were red as blood as he stared into the terrified face of the other boy.

Kankuro released the boy from shaking fingers. He had only felt this type of killing intent from one other person. Someone who could produce that type of aura was not someone he wanted to fight. Ever.

"Enough of this petty squabbling." Speaking of the devil.

Kankuro tried to hide within his own shadow as he winced. His brother was standing upside down in a nearby tree, watching the entire scene with dispassionate eyes. Kankuro was not a brave man. Had he been, he would never have survived this long in the first place. Between these two monsters was not a place where he wanted to be.

" _ **Naruto, can you feel it? That guy's the same as you."**_ Naruto's eyes, now back to their normal color, widened.

" _You mean…"_ He could feel Kurama scrutinizing the red-haired boy through his senses. The transmigrant didn't know what the fox would be able to get out of it, that he couldn't, but the furball answered anyway.

" _ **Yes. He is the Jinchuriki of Shukaku, the one-tailed raccoon. His stench is all over the boy."**_ Naruto almost laughed, almost. Raccoon? What the hell was Hagoromo thinking?

The two jinchuriki stared at each other, neither saying anything for an entire minute.

"What is your name, shinobi of the Leaf?" The redhead asked. His voice was raspy and hoarse, but his eyes was piercing and even a little wild.

Naruto swallowed his laughter. This boy did not look good. He didn't even look completely sane. "Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?"

The sand jinchuriki had begun walking away with his two teammates as soon as he got Naruto's name. After a few seconds of walking, he spoke up again. "Sabaku no Gaara. Be prepared. For I will kill you, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto stared after the tree Suna shinobi as they disappeared.

Three children in various states of distress swarmed him.

"That was so scary! Are you ok Konohamaru-kun?" Moegi asked.

Konohamaru clasped his neck, checking if a hand was still there. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. Boss scared them off."

He looked up at Naruto with stars in his eyes. "That was totally awesome bro! You were so cool! Can you teach me how to do that?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ehh... maybe some other time. I need to figure out what's going on."

He excused himself and sent the Konohamaru corps on their way. When he was alone, he turned back to one of the trees around him. "You can come out now, Sasuke. The scary guys have gone away."

Sasuke landed beside his teammate, scowling. "You know that's not what I was doing. I had your back."

Naruto smiled. "You were still hiding." Sasuke grunted and turned around. As he walked, Naruto followed him. "Where is Sakura? I hope you didn't just leave her." Sasuke deadpanned at Naruto, showing him just how much he cared for what Naruto hoped he would or would not do.

Then he sighed. "She was annoying, so I walked her home."

Naruto grinned suggestively. An expression he had learned from a certain white-haired pervert. "Oh, Sasuke is finally returning her affections. I bet she loved that."

In return, Sasuke sent him a stare from doom. He might as well have activated the sharingan. It was the only thing missing.

* * *

The third Hokage puffed on his pipe, studying the group of jounin and a few chunin before him. "So let me ask the new senseis first. Starting with Kakashi. Do you nominate your team for the Chunin Exam?"

Kakashi was silent for a minute. Then another minute. Someone coughed in the background. (Probably Hayate)

Iruka's voice broke the silence. "Don't be foolish Kakashi, they are just rookies. They aren't ready yet."

Ironically enough, that seemed to be what made Kakashi decide. "I nominate team seven. Led by Hatake Kakashi and consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura for the Chunin Exam." Kurenai and Asuma quickly followed Kakashi's example, thus nominating three rookie teams for the exams.

Iruka sputtered. Clearly not pleased with this turn of events. "What are you doing? They aren't ready yet! I was their teacher until just a few months ago."

Kakashi looked at Iruka with his usual lazy expression. "You aren't their teacher anymore. You have no say in the matter."

Iruka didn't back down that easily however. "I know those kids! Yes, in a few years, they might be great, but they're not ready for something like this yet. If you are so sure, why did you hesitate?" Kakashi scratched his head, blushing slightly with a stupid expression on his face. "I was just thinking about what Aori-chan did in the last chapter."

A few of the shinobi present snickered. Iruka was not one of them. "Cut the crap, Kakashi. This can break them! Do you want Na- your team destroyed?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "So you're worried about Naruto are you?"

Iruka stared defiantly back. "So what if I am? He may not know it himself, but that kid is like a little brother to me."

Kakashi studied the scarred Chunin for a few seconds. "Do you even know how strong Naruto is?"

Iruka blinked. Not having expected the question. "Not entirely, no. There are a few months since I last saw him fight."

Kakashi shook his head. "Both Naruto and Sasuke is clearly strong enough to become Chunin. Sakura is still a little off, but the challenge will do her good."

Iruka hesitated by the pure conviction in Kakashi's voice. "Then why did you-"

"Why did I hesitate?" Kakashi finished. The academy instructor nodded. "The team is in a very precarious position right now. The next months will make or break them. I simply decided there was no reason in prolonging it."

Hiruzen smiled as he watched Kakashi defend his students. Taking on a team had clearly been good for the man, no matter how much he complained.

 **Author's note: So… Now I'm in the military. More accurately, I'm starting the recruitment period tomorrow. Something I am not looking forward to, but I'm certainly anticipating the results.**

 **It will be 7 weeks of arduous physical training. Considering I was never the most fit individual in the first place, I will probably walk around as a living ball of pain by the end of the first week. At least that's what I expect will happen.**

 **I will do my best to channel Gai-sensei and give 120%. But I think I need those extra 20 for staying alive. No chakra enhancement for me, unfortunately. I think I heard him shouting about the power of youth during the 3000 meter test a few days ago.**

 **Anyway, I had finished this chapter just before leaving home. I hoped I could publish it before the military took over all my time. However, that was not fated to happen.**

 **We get a few hours at the end of each day for ourselves, but I doubt I'll be using it to write when there is so much other stuff to do. Do not expect a full new update before the next 7 or 8 weeks, when the recruitment period is over.**

 **I am currently rereading the older chapters and will be updating those in short order. I have been making minor adjustments here and there previously, but this time I reread the entire story and fixed everything I found. I was positively surprised by how little mistakes I found in the first 3 chapters. The 4** **th** **was an embarrassment though. I have no idea why I didn't proofread it more.**

 **The reason I didn't actually finish this chapter before I turned my life into an exercise full, order freak's dream, was because I was actually writing on another story. Which I will probably post at some time, probably soon. It is a BleachXNaruto crossover. I have read a few really good fics of those before, but become frustrated of how little most of the authors seem to care for the original work. Those two worlds actually fit very nicely together if you think about it. I believe I have done a good job with that.**

 **Spoilers:**

 **In my mind, it is actually a continuation of this story. Set long after the events of the fourth great ninja war. The war ends a little differently though.**

 **You might think you would spoil yourself reading this story, if you read the other one, but you're not really. The people reading this should already know the canon Naruto storyline, if not… eh, fine… I guess. (why haven't you read it yet?)**

 **And since you have found this small obscure piece of the internet, it means you have probably read quite a few pieces of fanfiction before. So… In reality, how much is it to spoil? Yeah… Naruto becomes immortal. I know it's a cliché, but I really like the idea. It makes sense in my mind. You'll see why later.**

 **Spoiler end:**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading. You guys stone. Ehh… I mean rock. You guys rock.**


	8. Chunin Exam

_Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto. Although owning other people has been outlawed for quite some time now. I guess the law does not see Naruto as a person. Honestly, what must he do to get the recognition he deserves?_

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - Chunin Exams:**

"The Chunin Exam? You really think we're ready for something like that, sensei?" Sakura asked uncertainly. Sasuke was staring intently at their teacher, looking for… something. Naruto looked like someone had just told him the answer to a frustrating question.

"Of course. I wouldn't have nominated you otherwise. Now, I don't expect you to get through this with flying colors. The Chunin Exam is hard, especially for rookies. The more experienced teams will most likely single you out as easy prey." Kakashi continued, something like amusement dancing in his eye. Sakura only looked more uncertain, glancing between her two teammates. "Yet, even if you don't pass, you'll have gained valuable experience. Still, I have faith in you. Remember what I have taught you, and you should be able to get through this." The one eyed jounin reassured them, his one visible eye curving into a smile. "If you are in, then meet up at room 301 at the academy tomorrow 3pm. That's where the first test will be."

Sasuke nodded resolutely, not a shred of doubt in his mind. Sakura was more reserved but nodded anyway. Naruto seemed like he wasn't even paying attention. Instead staring vacantly into space. "Yeah, yeah… I'll be there."

Sakura got a dangerous tick mark above her eye. Staring daggers into their blond teammate. "Naruto." She growled. "Did you even hear what Kaka-sensei said?"

Naruto nodded slowly, still staring vacantly at something or another. "Yeah. Chunin Exam, academy, room 301, 3pm. I'll be there."

Sakura blinked. This was so unlike Naruto she didn't quite know how to react.

"Emm, sorry… I have to do… eh… stuff." The blond started lamely, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Then he vanished in a shunshin before the situation could get any more awkward.

Sakura stared wide eyed at where Naruto had been just moment prior. "W-what? When did he learn to do that?"

Kakashi blinked, the only reaction of surprise he allowed himself. He had no idea either. He couldn't just have learned it overnight.

"Well then. See you tomorrow. Sensei, Sakura." Sasuke said, before vanishing the same way Naruto had.

Kakashi blinked again. Sasuke as well? At least he had the sharingan. Deciding to go with the flow, Kakashi eye smiled at his last remaining student. "You don't need to choose right away. It is completely voluntary. Sleep on it." Then he too moved away faster than the eye could see. Much more gracefully and efficiently than the two genin had.

Sakura was left gaping on the bridge, her pink hair billowing in the wind.

* * *

Naruto collapsed into his bead. He couldn't remember last time he had been so tired. Wait. Yes he could. It was last week. Just having survived a Raikiri to the chest.

The memory trick had been a godsend. During the previous week, he had managed to get more done than he usually did in a month. He had trained more, studied more _,_ spent more time with Ero-sennin and Iruka-sensei than ever before. Oh, and he had eaten enough ramen for an entire army. He had practically emptied his allowance already.

Thankfully, he had started earning his own money from all the missions team 7 had been doing. Without it, he doubted he would have been able to afford this month's rent. Absently, he wondered where all the food his shadow clones ate went. Trying to imagine some weird alternate universe where half-digested food just popped up out of nowhere, Naruto shivered. Perhaps some things were better left unknown.

The clone spamming came at a cost however. He was completely exhausted. As well as having one of the worst headaches he could ever remember having. It was like he had been awake for days on end. Running around, training, reading and doing thousands of other things all at once.

" _Oy, Kurama. You awake?"_

Naruto could almost feel the giant bijuu roll over in his cage. He didn't answer, so Naruto took that as a no. The blond steadied his breathing, deciding to try something he had only managed twice before. The flow of chakra circulating his body was still going strong, only a little diminished from the day's activities.

The boy felt a familiar tingling in his fingers and toes as he consciously increased the pressure. His chakra flowed like a river inside him. A few drops spilled out here and there, leaving every place he had visited coated in its residue. He would have to do something about that. It was far too easy to track him. Just one more thing to be added to the list. For now though, he concentrated on the spiral of energy centered on his stomach. After a few minutes of silent meditation, Naruto lost himself to the flow of his own energy.

A few moments later, blue eyes looked intently at the sleeping form of the Kyuubi. Two giant gates loomed over him, held together by the flimsy looking piece of paper Naruto had become used to seeing there.

"Kurama? Can you hear me!?" Naruto tried again.

The giant fox shifted in response, one eye opening lazily. " **What is it brat? I'm trying to sleep."**

Naruto looked away uncertainly. Ever since regaining his memories, uncertainty had not been a prevalent emotion. He knew what he wanted to do, and how to do it. "I figured… well, you know. You're quite lonely in here and…"

Kurama lifted an eyebrow. " **Kid. I've been alone for centuries."**

At that, Naruto's conviction hardened. "Well, that's even more of a reason then."

" **Reason for what?"**

"Keeping you company."

The nine-tailed demon fox stilled. One eye became two as the bijuu studied the blond reincarnation of his father's son. " **I am the living incarnation of hatred. I despise humans. I do not need your company."** The giant fox sneered.

Naruto shook his head stubbornly. "As if I'd believe that now. You're Kurama." Then he smiled. The type of smile that overrode any other emotion. "You're my older brother."

With that, Naruto walked through the space between the metal bars, not a sliver of hesitation in his movements.

Kurama sat perfectly still as Naruto floated up towards him. Naruto's control over his mindscape was still lackluster, but it was getting better.

The blond curled up in the red fur on top of Kurama's head. Falling asleep only a few seconds later.

The bijuu was trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. His host was inside the cage with him. If he wanted, he could crush him right now. Perhaps the seal stopped him from harming the boy when he was outside, but now the idiot had willingly put himself in harm's way. The ancient demon only had to lift a single hand, and he could crush the human like a bug. He had done it countless times before.

So why did he hesitate now?

The wrinkled, aged face of his father appeared before Kurama inner eye. The fox let out a frustrated and resigned sigh. " **Only for you old man."**

* * *

Kakashi watched as his three students met up on the designated meeting place. Naruto and Sasuke moved with confidence and surety. Sakura, a little less so. She did seem to have regained some of her earlier spunk though, and was trying her hardest to seem brave.

Naruto said something Kakashi couldn't quite pick up and Sakura glared at him. Then he said something else, resulting in Sakura smacking him over the head. The hit sent the blond sprawling to the ground.

Sasuke shook his head and began walking. Sakura following quickly thereafter. The girl had completely forgotten her earlier hesitation as she tried to engage the dark haired Uchiha in conversation. Naruto came stumbling after them, holding his bruised head.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. Naruto was more of a ninja than people gave him credit for.

* * *

"My name is Rock Lee. And you are Sakura?" Sakura blinked, not fully understanding why this weird boy was talking to her. "Let's go out together! I will protect you 'til I die!" Lee continued, sending her a blinding smile and thumbs up.

An awkward silence followed. Sakura stared blankly at the first boy that had ever asked her out. She looked over at Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke was ignoring the entire ordeal, while Naruto was trying to hold back laughter. He wasn't doing to well as giggles broke through at regular intervals.

"No way." She said. "You're lame."

Lee hung his head, dark clouds of depression gathering over him. Naruto walked over and clapped him on the back. "Hey, don't give up so easily. If you truly wish for something, then you have to work for it."

Lee straightened at once, a fire burning in his eyes. "Of course! I will take you out on a date, Sakura-chan. I promise you."

Sakura shivered as she tried to ignore the boy's horrible fashion sense. Instead glaring daggers at her teammate. Naruto looked completely unrepentant.

"Hey you, what's your name?" The other boy on the team asked, looking intently at Sasuke.

The dark haired Uchiha smirked back at the pale-eyed boy. "When introducing yourself, shouldn't you give your own name first?" The Hyuuga – for it was obvious that was what he was – didn't seem offended by the question.

Instead, he asked another of his own. "You're a rookie aren't you?"

Sasuke bristled at the question, but he couldn't deny it. "I don't have to answer to you." Almost as one, the two boys turned away from each other, both joining up with their teams once again.

Sasuke smiled. An eager glint in his eyes.

Team seven only managed to stay alone for a few minutes before they were hunted down again by the same guy that had bothered Sakura earlier. "Hey, you with the dark hair!"

Sasuke turned. "What is it?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"My name is Rock Lee. I challenge you to a spar!" Lee shouted as he jumped down from the dais he had been standing on. "You should introduce yourself before you ask for another's name, is that not so?" Lee said, a challenging tilt to his voice.

Sasuke straightened his stance slightly as Lee landed on the floor. "Uchiha Sasuke." The rookie-of-the-year answered.

Naruto frowned, looking between the two Konoha ninja. They were about to enter the Chunin Exam, no matter how you looked at it, this was a bad idea.

"I wish to test myself against one from the so called genius clan. Plus…" Here he looked over at Sakura before blowing a kiss at her. Sakura swerved to the side to dodge the imaginary heart. Looking utterly terrified by the possibility of it hitting her.

"You wish to challenge me, knowing the Uchiha name? Fool. I will show you what that it truly means." Sasuke said. His eyes hardening.

Naruto had to fight down shivers as the frame of another Uchiha overlapped Sasuke's. He didn't know what to do. Should he intervene? Try to stop the match? Sasuke would never turn down a challenge to his name, even if he didn't want to fight, something which he clearly did.

Naruto bit his lip as he watched the two genin settle into fighting stances.

The fight started much like Sasuke and Naruto's had. The two shinobi sprinting forward to meet in a contest of taijutsu.

There was one difference though. Lee was far, _far_ better at taijutsu than Naruto had ever been. After only three blows, Lee found an opening. The green clad genin's fist snapped forward, impossibly fast and impossible to dodge.

Somehow, Sasuke still managed to put up a block in time. He moved backwards with the blow, lessening the damage all he could. The blow still sent him careening towards the wall though. He got his footing under him in time, stopping just before colliding. Sasuke spit out a piece of blood before looking up at his opponent. His eyes were red, two tomoe spinning in each eye.

Naruto's eyes were wide. Lee was stronger than Sasuke? In an uncomfortable moment of insight, he saw how this one boy could defeat their entire team right now, and there was very little they could do to stop him.

"The sharingan? It will not help you in this fight I'm afraid." Lee said, his voice calm.

Sasuke almost snarled. He was very close to just charging recklessly, but he knew that would almost certainly doom him. Sharingan or not. Before he could think any more on the matter, Lee was upon him. The green clad genin flew through a set of moves faster than normal eyes could see. Sasuke did not have normal eyes though. He dodged, blocked, and rolled with the blows. Still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't avoid the damage being dealt to him. Even if he blocked the blow, his arms screamed in protest, his legs buckled under the strain. Lee was simply too strong.

He couldn't win with taijutsu, that much was clear.

Before that thought could go much further, a turtle came flying out of nowhere. The summon animal – because there was no way it was anything else – hit Lee over the head. It did not look happy. "What are you doing? You moron!"

Lee grabbed his head in pain, looking slightly guilty and frustrated at the same time. "I-I'm sorry. I just wished to test my skill against another genius."

The turtle huffed irritably. "You have an entire exam to challenge yourself. Gai will not be pleased."

Lee's eyes widened. "I just…"

"Lee!"

The man appeared in burst of smoke atop his giant turtle. The animal seemed resigned to play its role, as if it had done this countless times before. Team 7 could only gawk at what could only be described as a grown-up version of Lee appeared before them. Student and teacher looked at each other for a moment, their similarities impossible to ignore. "Gai-sensei, I'm sorry. I- I-"

"You fool!" Gai shouted as he punched his student across the room. Tears streamed down his face as he got to one knee. Putting his arm forward to help Lee up to his feet again.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted. Tears beginning to stream down his face as well.

"You don't have to say it Lee. I understand." Then the pair embraced. The sun shone across the horizon and waves crashed against the beach behind them. Teacher and student clung to each other, crying for all they were worth.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Team 7 bore witness to the entire scene with disbelieving looks on their faces. "No way. There's no way. I refuse to believe people like this actually exists." Sakura said weakly, her eyes wide.

Sasuke said nothing, only staring at teacher and student intently, still with his sharingan active. "I-I can't see through it. The genjutsu… It _has_ to be a genjutsu, right?" He sounded almost desperate, trying to cling to reality as it unraveled before his eyes.

Then Gai finally noticed them. In an instant, he was behind them. Having traveled the length of the room faster than most jounin could throw a kunai. The Uchiha's red eyes widened. Even with the sharingan, he had only seen the slightest flicker of movement.

"So, you're Kakashi's students, eh?" The green-clad man said cheerfully, patting them on the shoulders.

"You know Kaka-sensei?" Sakura asked, more than a little creeped out by now.

"Know him! Ha! That man and his hip attitude." Gai said, shaking his head. "Don't tell me he hasn't told you about Maito Gai, the Green Beast of Konoha!?" Team 7 was relieved that he hadn't.

Gai sighed with disappointment. "That eternal rival of mine. He must have been blinded by your youth! Forgetting all about me in the process. It has been most difficult trying to find him these last few months." Neither of the genin had anything to say to that.

Team 7 couldn't help but be relieved Kakashi had ended up as their sensei. Despite his rather… undesirable quirks, he wasn't too bad.

Gai beamed at them.

Nope. Not bad at all.

* * *

"There you are! I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever show up!" A high-pitched voice cried out. Ino came running at them, throwing herself over a protesting Sasuke.

Naruto snickered as Sakura dragged her rival away from her chosen one.

"Hmm… So you did get here in time? Troublesome." Naruto smiled at his friend. Shikamaru and Choji had followed their teammate.

"Chips?" Choji offered, putting forward a bag of refreshments.

Still smiling, Naruto thanked him and took a few. Sakura was still busy arguing with Ino, while Sasuke seemed to do his best to ignore everyone.

"Ha! So the dead last and his team showed up as well, that means all the rookie teams from our class are participating!" Naruto turned as Kiba, Shino and Hinata approached them. Kiba was his normal boisterous and insulting self. The blond didn't let it bother him though. That was just how Kida rolled. He was a fighter, challenging everything and everyone around him.

"Indeed. Having three rookie teams participate is a rare event. Why? That's because rookie teams seldom have the experience and skills required to be competitive in an event such as the Chunin Exams." Shino's monotonous voice reached them.

Shino was as stoic as only people from his clan could be. But Naruto was pretty sure he could hear a hint of pride in the young man's voice.

"L-let's do our b-best everyone." Hinata stammered.

The blond Uzumaki beamed as he looked at his friends. He could feel his blood boiling.

For some reason, he really wanted to win this. To show the world what he could do.

His right fist clenched and the memory of countless of balloons flew through his mind. He was ready.

* * *

Naruto stared down at the piece of paper before him. His mind going a thousand miles per hour.

He didn't know the answer to any of these questions.

How could that be? Some of his earlier lives must have contained at least one smart dude! Surely, he couldn't have been an idiot in every single life… Right?

He could remember learning water walking dozens of times over, but calculating the trajectory of a shuriken?

Still, Naruto wasn't a complete idiot. He knew he wasn't supposed to know the answers. He was supposed to cheat. He had just thought that he might have a good chance of doing it the honest way. How come Sakura was smarter than generations of clan heads?

Finally giving up, the blond ninja sighed. How should he cheat then? Just looking around, he could see at least five different methods. Including very inventive use of ninja wire, lamps and reflections. Still, if he could see them, then surely the proctors could as well. A hazy memory - from god knows how long ago - showed him a seal he could possibly use. It was originally meant to transmit messages across distances by copying writing on one paper to another. The problem was just getting the seal on someone else's test. If he could even remember how to make it, that was.

Naruto ruffled his hair in frustration. If he could just find a way to contact his clones.

He still had a couple running around in Konoha. Making them had become a habit by now. If he made another clone, then popped it, his current memories would be transmitted to them. But was that truly necessary? Why should he have to create a whole new clone to transmit information to what was essentially just constructs of his charka? Of himself?

Naruto closed his eyes. He could feel his chakra clear as day. It flowed unhindered through his body, an ocean of power he could call upon at a moment's notice. To him, and any other ninja worth their salt, the feeling was second nature. But he had pieces of his energy that was outside himself. Chakra that was separated, but still a part of him at the same time. He concentrated, and concentrated, and concentrated.

At one point he was afraid he might dip into senjutsu. Hashirama might have been a master, but this was another body, another mind. And he had no wish to turn into stone.

Nothing. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't connect with the other parts of himself. What now? He couldn't just make a clone before all these people. He would be caught instantly. But what if…

Blinking, the blond frowned as he thought. Would that even work? Well, it was worth as shot.

Closing his eyes again, Naruto formed the cross seal underneath his desk. He could feel the chakra centering on his hara and molding itself in response to the seal. Both mind and body knew what came next. Splitting his chakra neatly in two, Naruto released the jutsu. But before the chakra could fully leave him, he pulled it back – dispelling the technique in less than tenth of a second. A little smoke drifted off him, the only sign of the clone that never was.

The chunin monitoring the exam focused on him. Making the blond genin grin and rub the back of his head. Sweat droplets ran down the back of his neck. They frowned at him but didn't say anything. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he waited. He could only hope that worked.

Naruto sat there, waiting several minutes before the response came. Memories of books, a cat, and a crazy lady shouting about dango came back to him.

Naruto smiled to himself as he got to work on the test. Pen flying over the paper. It was in no way easy, but having two – four now – clones rummaging through the library did help a lot. They even did the calculations for him.

As time went by, he began to get regular updates as the clones progressed through the tasks put before them. The memories included several where he asked the librarians for help, sometimes with success, other times… not so much.

He had sent back one or two responses of his own, just to tell them it was working. This time managing to do it without the excess chakra smoke.

By the time the test was called to an end, he was feeling pretty confident. He was by no means finished, but he didn't need to ace the test either. Answering one question would be enough. He trusted Sakura and Sasuke to have much more effective ways of gathering information. Or in Sakura's case; just knowing the answers.

Eventually, the rules of the tenth question was announced.

Naruto was outraged. What had all the previous questions been for then? All around him, people began to withdraw, not willing to risk their careers to one question.

It infuriated him.

No. It enraged him.

How could they just give up? How could they leave at the slightest hint of resistance? A small voice in the back of his head tried to hold him back, but his more impulsive side overrode it instantly.

Slamming his hand onto the table, Naruto rose, staring daggers at Ibiki. The special jounin raised an eyebrow.

"Don't mock us!" The blond shouted. "Never take the test again? Stay Genin forever? What kind of test is this!?"

Ibiki smirked. He had just answered that question. Prepared to do so again, he opened his mouth.

Before he could utter a word though, the blond continued. "Of course we'll take it!" Silence permeated the room as everyone stared at the twelve-year-old boy. "We came here to become chunin. We all knew people gets killed in these exams! Never take the chunin test again!? We all came here willing to die! Of course we'll take the question! And even if we fail, so what?" His question was directed to all the genin in the room. As with the chunin, all of them was looking at him. "My dream is to become hokage! And I'll do that even if I have to be a genin forever! Your rank is meaningless before your dreams! But if you give up now…" Naruto trailed off. Not sure how to finish the sentence. So what if they withdrew? They would stagnate, give up their chance to improve, miss the opportunity to succeed. For some reason, Naruto just couldn't stand the thought. Give up? Ridiculous. He knew he just created more competition for him and his team, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Ibiki began to chuckle. The chuckle evolved into full-blown laughter as he watched the rest of the genin. It was clear that no one else was going to quit now. He could see it in their eyes. "Ha, very well. If anyone else wishes to back down. Do so now."

No one said anything, Naruto was still staring daggers at him. "Very well. Then you all pass!"

Listening to Ibiki's explanation, Naruto was rendered mute. How could he not have seen that? Of course Ibiki didn't have the authority to ban them from the exams. Leaf shinobi? Maybe. All the others? Not a chance. As the explanation came to a close, Naruto found himself beginning to respect the special jounin. The man had been through a lot. Everyone could tell that from the hideous scars on his head. Yet he still managed to smile and laugh. Soon enough, Ibiki finished his explanation.

Only a moment later, a black blur flew through the window. Throwing up a banner behind herself, Matarshi Anko announced her presence.

"Gah! The crazy dango lady!" Naruto exclaimed.

Anko blinked, looking at the kid who had interrupted her. "You! What the hell are you doing here whelp? I saw you just half an hour ago."

Naruto shivered at the memory. His clone had barely survived the experience. Without the trusted substitution, his clone would have been riddled by a dozen dango sticks. Besides, all he had said was… "Ramen is still better than dango!"

Screaming like a little girl, Naruto quickly switched himself out with a nearby chair as the space he had been occupying was riddled with Kunai and other pointed objects.

"Get over here brat!" Quickly hiding behind Sasuke – who did not look pleased by this arrangement – Naruto shouted back at her. "You will never take me alive!"

That was before he felt something cold touch his cheek. Naruto slowly looked to his left, seeing the sharp edge of a kunai digging into his skin. A small trickle of blood ran down his cheek. Stopping as the woman's tongue licked it up. Naruto shivered as he felt the cold breath on his neck. She could kill him in an instant if she wanted to.

"Anko." Ibiki's voice sounded resigned. As if this was something he was used to dealing with.

The snake mistress looked up at her colleague, pouting in disappointment. "Oh, come on, Ibiki. The kid is the most fun I've had in ages."

The T&I commander shook his head. "The exam." He reminded her gently.

Sighing, Anko pulled away her Kunai. Licking Naruto's cheek one more time before appearing at Ibiki's side.

Naruto was frozen as he felt even Kurama recoil slightly. " _ **If I ever break out of here, I'll make sure not to eat her. I have no wish to be tainted by such a crazy woman. No matter how small the possibility."**_ Naruto found he couldn't really fault his tenant's logic.

Anko proceeded to explain the next test, sending excited looks over to Naruto during the explanation. The other genin were giving them both strange looks, but they were all ninja. They were used to quirks and people more crazy than an entire madhouse put together.

Before they knew it, all the teams were standing before training ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death. The enormous trees looming above them. Naruto blinked as the memory of creating this very forest came to him.

The stream of memories from his earlier lives had mostly faded, but he still got flashes now and then. These trees were decidedly not natural. In fact, he could almost feel their power from here. The whole forest was overflowing with chakra, Hashirama's distinctive signature permeating everything.

Hashirama had actually made most of the trees in Konoha. It had been necessary after one his battles with Madara had destroyed all natural plant growth and flattened the land for miles around. Even the river had been rerouted to flow through the village. Although that had been Tobirama's doing, not Hashirama's.

Naruto shook himself back to reality as they received their scroll. Sasuke seemed to be weighing it in his hand. Looking between Naruto and Sakura.

Finally, he shoved it at Naruto. Making the blond raise an eyebrow. "Can you make two clones and henge them into a similar scroll? Like you did with the shuriken in wave." Sasuke asked. Naruto blinked, he had almost forgotten about that. Normal henge shouldn't actually be capable of transforming into just about anything under the sun.

The farther from the user's original shape and mass, the harder and more demanding it was to maintain. But shadow clones were different. As constructs of chakra, they had no 'original shape' to begin with.

"Sure." He said. Making two clones almost before his hands performed the seal. The copies of him saluted in synchronization before quickly disappearing in a puff of smoke. In their place was two scrolls that looked exactly the same as the original.

Moderately skilled ninja and sensors would be able to tell the difference quite easily, as the scrolls radiated chakra like no inanimate object should. They were still just a henge after all. Although a very well made one. Naruto was good at henge. This was the Chunin Exam though. It might not have fooled everyone here, but most should at least be momentarily distracted by it. Added to that, he could make as many as he wanted.

Soon enough, they were led to their designated starting point. After a few minutes where everyone else got situated, they were let through the fence. The chunin guard nodded cordially before locking the gate and disappearing in a body flicker.

 **Author's note: So… This took some time. I'm not exactly sure why to be honest. It was a mix of not knowing exactly what to write, usual laziness, another story to demanding my attention, and the fact that I barely have any free time anymore.**

 **So, anyway. Christmas! Yay!**

…

 **Where the heck did all the time run off to?**

 **It seems absurd that it has been half a year since I last updated this story. But I guess that's how it is. Hopefully, the next one won't take as long.**

 **The army has been… an eye-opener, to say the least. You don't know how pampered you are before the comfort of warmth, food and all the other luxuries of modern life is taken from you. If only for a short amount of time. The physical exercise has really not been so bad. Sure, it's not easy, but it's less than I expected.**

 **So, another half a year and then hopefully I'm starting the university and returning to the life of a student.**


	9. Snakes! Snakes Everywhere!

_Disclaimer: Naruto owns me._

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Snakes! Snakes Everywhere!:**

A minute after team 7 entered the Forest of Death, a veritable army of orange invaded the training ground. Shadow clones flooded the forest in the hundreds. They ran across the ground. They jumped among the trees. They went solo and in teams.

Before the scrolls had been divided, team 7 had eventually agreed that searching for other teams would be the best course of action. It was better to be the ambushee than the ambushed, after all.

Naruto simply liked to blow everything out of proportion.

Why seek out only one team when they could go after everyone? Then they could pick and choose at their leisure.

Sasuke shook his head, almost in awe. "I just can't understand how you can make that _many_! The chakra required for one is heavy enough as it is."

Sakura was speechless, staring after the army of Narutos as they disappeared into the canopy.

The blond scratched the back of his head embarrassingly. "The Kage Bunshin is extremely useful. Each clone isn't very strong though. I only gave them enough chakra for one technique." It was quite a demanding jutsu though. Technically it was two jutsu, but one was required to do the other.

Sasuke snorted. God only knew where Naruto had gotten such reserves. Clenching his fist, Sasuke swore to train even harder. He would not let Naruto surpass him.

They began tree jumping, heading farther into the forest. Whichever team they went after was most likely going to be closer if they were closer to the center.

After a few minutes of travel, Naruto's head snapped to the side. "I found some of the teams. A team of older genin from Konoha. One from Grass, Rain and Sand. I am bound to find more after a while. Should we wait or choose one of those?" Sasuke frowned, trying to recall the team composition. "Who's the closest?" He eventually asked.

Naruto was silent for awhile, eyes flickering towards the trees as they continued to jump. "Hmm… The Rain team, I think. I can't really tell the distance between my clones and me, but they are moving our way."

Sasuke considered. "There's really no point in waiting for you to find more. We only need one scroll. If they have the right one, then great. If not, we go for another team."

Naruto nodded, clenching his fake heavens scroll tightly. Sakura had another fake, while Sasuke had the real one. With his eyes, he had the best defense out of all of them.

"Good, show us the way, Naruto. And don't forget the stealth lessons sensei showed us." Sasuke said.

Ten minutes later, they met up with another Naruto who was patiently waiting for them high above the Rain team. Their targets were all wearing masks and some sort of pale swimsuits.

The clone grinned and saluted. "Yo, boss. I have kept an eye on them as you said. I don't think they noticed me. They have been looking for someone, but I can't really hear what they're saying from this distance." The voice was barely above a whisper, but Team 7 all heard it.

Naruto nodded. "Thanks, good job." The clone popped in a small burst of smoke and Naruto blinked. "Huh, it feels weird to thank myself."

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes before focusing on the team beneath them. His Sharingan activated and the Uchiha sucked in a breath. "Don't attack. They're clones. Apparently they _did_ notice you."

Naruto frowned and sighed. "Well, I guess I should work more on my stealth then."

Sasuke hummed. "Probably a good idea. You can be stealthy, but your chakra is leaking everywhere. That means they probably have a sensor on their team." He noted, scanning his friends frame with his sharingan.

Sakura looked a little scared but still determined. "So you think they know where we are? Why haven't they attacked us yet?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment as he considered the question. "They know we're here, but I don't think they know we know they know."

Naruto blinked and cocked his head to the side. "Man… that was complicated."

Rolling his eyes again, Sasuke smacked his friend on the shoulder. "Come on. I'm pretty sure they're underground. We have a better chance at turning this around if we turn their trap back on them. If we wait any longer, it'll seem suspicious. Stay behind us Sakura, you're the support."

With that, the Uzumaki and Uchiha fell down the ten meter drop. Sakura blinked before she hesitantly followed.

Sasuke drew in a deep breath as he molded his chakra, quickly flashed through a set of hand signs. Then he stopped, keeping the technique unreleased, contained with a one-handed ram seal. Instead of using the jutsu, he drew a kunai, pretending to be surprised when he fell harmlessly through the haze clone. His sharingan spun as he watched the small core of chakra move underground. The Uchiha heir jumped just in time to avoid the arm trying to stab him. In return, he burned it with the stored up fireball. It was relatively small compared to his usual ones. No point in wasting chakra, after all.

The rain genin screamed in pain as he ducked under the earth again to smother the flames.

Not wasting a single moment, Sasuke moved to the next target. There were three shinobi waiting to ambush them, and only he and Naruto were fighting.

An unsuspecting rain genin had to avert his attack on Naruto's back in order to avoid the incoming shuriken.

Just as he landed, the rain-nin's face contorted into a mask of frustration. Although, it wasn't all that easy to see, with a gas mask already covering everything but the eyes.

"How? How did you know where we were?" He demanded. Tossing a few kunai at Sasuke.

The Uchiha calmly stepped between them, contemptuously plucking one out of the air as it sailed passed. The Uchiha studied the weapon for a moment. It was an interesting kunai. It had one blade on both sides instead of the ring commonly used in Konoha. Sasuke went through possible advantages for and against using such a weapon.

The rain-nin made 'tsk' sound as he was forced back by Sasuke tossing the knife back at him. The space between them were quickly filled with dozens of haze clones. They were an improvement to the more common illusionary clones, but not by much. More importantly. They made no difference whatsoever against him.

Sasuke smirked as he casually strode through the dozens of clones attacking him, only dodging the real weapons with minimal effort. As he approached, his opponents eyes grew wider and wider. Fear and apprehension dominating his features.

"There is nothing to hide before these eyes, fool." Sasuke said, sprinting forward before engaging his enemy in a brutal clash of taijutsu. It didn't last very long. Apparently, taijutsu wasn't the rain-nin's forte.

Turning back to the rest of the fight, he was just in time to see half a dozen Naruto's clobber their opponent. He had matched clones with clones and found the real one through simple trial and error.

Sasuke shook his head at the thought before scanning the forest floor with his dojutsu. The last rain genin still standing had a burnt arm. Even if he tried to escape, he couldn't have gotten far.

Indeed, Sasuke could see the source of chakra moving beneath the ground, slowly crawling away from the small clearing. It wasn't Byakugan levels of clarity, but the genin weren't that deep and he was using ninjutsu to move.

Sasuke studied the flow of chakra intently. It was a hard without first seeing the hand signs, but it should be doable. Once he had determined how the technique worked, Sasuke did his best to imitate the flow of chakra. Going through a few signs commonly associated with earth and alteration. He plunged his hands into the soil, feeling the earth reluctantly give before him.

He grabbed a hold of something solid, and hoping it was not a tree root, did his best to pull it out. A shout of panic was the first that met him once the rain-nin came free. The second was a kunai to his face.

Sasuke could see every detail on the blade as it sipped towards him. The scratch in the iron, the mud still clinging to the knife. He could see exactly how it was going to pierce his left cheek and score a painful - although not fatal - injury.

Sasuke shifted his weight slightly and caught the blade with his teeth. Then he twisted his body and used his elbow to say hello to the back of the rain-nins head.

Naruto huffed. "That's not fair. You get two while I only get this one?" He pouted.

Sasuke rolled his eyes before dragging the knocked out genin back towards the others, spitting a few times to get rid of the dirt in his mouth.

After a few seconds of searching, they found the scroll. Luckily, it was an earth scroll, saving them the trouble of finding another team.

Eventually, Sakura rejoined them, looking extremely relieved. "So, we go to the tower then?"

Naruto hummed, trying to glimpse the sun beyond the canopy. "It's getting late. The chance of ambush is higher at night. Still, if we go faster, fewer people will be in our way." Sasuke seemed to consider the two options. Weighing the pro's and con's carefully.

Before anyone could decide on anything, gale force winds tore through to the forest before them. Three pairs of eyes widened.

Sasuke threw himself towards Sakura, barely managing to drag her with him out of the blast zone. Looking back, the Uchiha could barely believe his eyes.

The forest had been totally cleared for hundreds of feet behind them. The trees were uprooted and the earth was tossed aside. A line of destruction stretched across the landscape bearing witness to power the likes of which Sasuke hadn't seen since he was seven years old.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun." A hoarse voice purred.

The last Uchiha turned almost robotically. Standing amongst the trees still intact, was a grass-nin.

Then the killing intent hit.

* * *

Naruto shook himself out of a daze. That wind jutsu had come out of nowhere. If that was the work of a genin, he was an alien. Ignoring the fact that one quarter of his soul was quite literally from another world, and that comparison might've actually worked.

The blond froze as he felt another presence right behind him. Turning slowly, Naruto saw the largest snake he had ever seen. It was quite literally longer than the Hokage tower was tall.

The serpent lunged forward. Naruto tried to dodge, he really did, but he was still dazed from the wind jutsu, and that snake was unreasonably fast. Thankfully, the snake thought it was a good idea to swallow him alive.

God, this was disgusting.

" _Eh, Kurama… A little help here?"_ Naruto asked, a little embarrassed he even had to ask.

A heavy sigh came from inside his mind. The blond could easily picture the giant demon rolling his eyes. " _ **Sure. Just use my almighty power to avoid being digested by a snake. I feel truly honored to have such a powerful host."**_ The fox remarked sarcastically.

Naruto blinked, and then smirked. Had Kurama just cracked a joke? It almost made it worth being swallowed in the first place.

A second later, red chakra surged from within him. Growing in strength until it formed an almost solid cloak of chakra. The flesh surrounding him hissed and steamed as the corrosive energy burned away at the tissue.

Reaching out a clawed hand, Naruto literally tore his way out of the reptile, gore and entrails went flying through the air. The snake proceeded to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Very dirty, covered in blood and internal organs, Naruto froze. Summon animal. A-rank wind jutsu. Summoner of snakes.

Red slitted eyes widened in horror as he looked towards where he thought his teammates were.

 _Orochimaru!_

The name echoed through his mind as Naruto tore through the trees. Earth and wooden splinters burst up behind him.

Together with Tsunade and Raya, he was one of the legendary Sannin. He was one of Konoha's greatest legends, and one of its worst nightmares.

Naruto had heard more than one story about the snake summoner from Raya. Some serious, others with a more humorous feel. Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't find much humor in their current situation.

He had no idea why Orochi- _freaking_ -maru was here at the Chunin Exams, or why he was attacking them. But if he was, he and his team needed to get to the tower as fast as humanly possible.

He felt the killing intent long before he saw anyone. It hang thick in the air. Clung to the walls of his mind like oil. Screaming at him to run – to hide – before he died a gruesome and terrible death.

If there had been any doubt before, it was gone now. Orochimaru was here. In Konoha. Attacking his team.

He was scared. Only a fool wouldn't be. The killing intent was only heightened by the knowledge of what they were up against.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto jumped to the next branch. The world blurred around him.

* * *

Sasuke shook as he stared into the deadly eyes of the predator before him. He had to run! They had to get away! This was a battle far beyond any of them!

Slitted eyes stared into his soul. Cruel amusement flashing through them. In his mind, they were replaced with another pair of eyes. For a moment, he saw red pinwheels staring back at him with dissipation.

"Rasengan!" A red blur slammed into the monster before him.

The grass-nin flew through a tree branch, continuing into a larger tree before cracking the giant trunk of the one behind it. Both trees buckled and collapsed, taking parts of the canopy with it.

Sasuke stared, still frozen, at their rescuer.

"What are you doing?! Run!" Naruto shouted. Red chakra bubbling around him, morphing his features to that resembling a demon.

"Kukukuku, Rasengan? Isn't that a surprise. Jiraiya's pet fox came to join us. How nice of you, Naruto-kun." The speaker was completely unharmed.

Of course he was. The grass-nin stood a couple of trees away, observing their team with what could only be described as mild interest.

Naruto snarled and turned towards the source. Then he burst forward. The branch he was standing on broke under the pressure, wooden splinters trailing behind the blond as he flew.

Sasuke's eyes could barely keep up. Naruto didn't just look like a demon. He fought like one.

The cloak of chakra that was steadily building around the blond formed into claws as he swung at their enemy. His teeth were bared. Fangs and engraved whiskers making him look more feral than any Inuzuka ever managed.

Yet, no matter what he did. The grass-nin dodged everything effortlessly. He slid across branches, twisting in ways that should be impossible. There wasn't an ounce of hesitation in the motions, no movements wasted.

The energy around Naruto grew. Soon, the red chakra began to encompass the blond's entire body, a single tail flowing out behind him.

The snake summoner quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, how surprising. Being able to call upon the demon fox's chakra with such a level of control. It's almost impressive. Alas, I have no interest in you." Then he moved, flowing around Naruto's movements with deceptive ease.

Sasuke flew towards them before he even realized what he was doing. The mind-numbing killing intent barely even registered. All he knew was that he had to help his friend.

Just as the grass-nin reached for Naruto, a wall of fire flew from Sasuke's mouth, forcing the two combatants to separate. The Uchiha landed beside his teammate, kunai drawn and sharingan spinning. This close, he could feel Naruto's chakra like fire. It was hot and corrosive. It burned against his skin as they stood there, yet he paid it no mind. It wasn't important right now.

"Sasuke! What are you doing!? I told you to run!" Naruto sounded almost desperate. There was a hoarse quality to his voice, like he had been using it for too long.

Sasuke snarled. "Run? As if I could leave you here idiot! If you're fighting, I'm fighting."

Naruto looked supremely frustrated, but then he sighed, a small smile playing at his lips. "Well, we'll just have to show him what we got then."

Sasuke smirked back. "That we will."

The grass-nin had been content to watch them during the short conversation. An intent glint in his eyes. "You know, Sasuke-kun. Fighting together will be no different than fighting alone. It makes no difference for a predator if the prey numbers in the hundreds." The killing intent doubled, and Sasuke had to fight with himself not freeze up again.

Then another aura mixed with the overpowering presence of the grass-nin. It was angry and raw. It burned the air and made everything tinted red. It wasn't as focused as their opponent's, but somehow, it was even more potent.

" **Orochimaru."** Naruto bared his teeth. Elongated fangs on full display. It took a moment for Sasuke to realize the feeling was coming from Naruto. The blond's voice was strangely double tinted, a darker presence making itself known from their normally cheerful teammate.

"Kukukuku. You know my name? I'm flattered." Orochimaru laughed. The voice still sending chills down Sasuke's spine. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember it at the moment, his brain was too preoccupied not to panic.

" **What are you doing here, traitor!?"** Naruto spat, the words angry and barely controlled.

Orochimaru licked his lips, hungry gaze settling on Sasuke. "Well, let's just say, I'm scouting for new talent."

Naruto took a step forward, red tail swishing angrily behind him. " **You're after Sasuke?"** The blond asked, his voice somehow becoming even angrier.

The snake summoner only smiled. "He isn't like most shinobi. All he cares about is power. Isn't that right, Sasuke-kun?"

"S-Shut up!" The voice came from behind them. From a source none of them had speared more than passing thought. Suddenly Sakura was there, standing beside Sasuke, at the other side of the burning Naruto. She was crying, but still staring defiantly towards their opponent. "Sasuke has been through a lot! He doesn't need you trying to bring him down!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at her. Two pairs of red eyes blinking in shock.

"Kukukuku. Bring him down? No, little girl. I will carry him higher than his wildest dreams. I will give him power. Power enough to kill his brother."

Sasuke froze. _What?_

"Prove yourself to me, and I will grant you power enough to kill Itachi. What do you say, Sasuke-kun?" The devil offered, yellow eyes boring into his very soul.

Before he could answer, Naruto roared in defiance and shot towards their enemy. Hundreds of clones bursting into existence around him. The trees creaked ominously from the aftershock. No more time to think. Sasuke jumped after them, not willing to freeze up again.

Sasuke merged seamlessly into the hordes of Narutos, using them as both distractions and cover. Wind and fire combined for some truly brilliant combinations. Ninja wire and shuriken flew everywhere. Every Naruto clone was encompassed with a burning cloak of red chakra. They tore through trees and jutsu with abandon. Often completely ignoring the fact that there was huge ball of compressed fire between them and their enemy.

Deep blue orbs of energy formed in their palms. The intensity was almost too bright to look at with the chakra seeing eyes of the Uchiha. Anything the orbs touched were blasted to bits. Sending tree after tree collapsing to the ground far below them.

 _When the hell did Naruto get so strong?_ Unfortunately, Sasuke had no time to contemplate that question as he did his best to keep up with his teammate.

The Uchiha jumped and flipped. He threw dozens of weapons in the span of a few seconds. Some bouncing off each other midair to hit a moving target. Lightning and fire burst towards their foe, cutting of escape routes and homing in on their target. Against any ordinary genin, it would have been almost impossible to dodge. Yet their opponent made it look easy.

Clone after clone was popped, but more burst into existence immediately afterwards. They were an unending horde. A swarm flooding their enemy with attack after attack, never letting up for a second. Everyone moved in harmony with each other. Like dancers moving to unheard music. It was a group consisting of coordinated chaos and destruction, both beautiful and terrifying to look at.

In the midst of all the red and orange was Sasuke, boosting wind techniques with fire and using their attacks as conduits of his own. Sasuke and Naruto were fighting together as if they had been doing it their entire life.

Still… no matter what they did. Orochimaru simply slithered through their attacks. Rocks, dirt and wood were thrown to the side, victims of a fight no genin should be able to produce.

"Ah, it has been fun. You are truly skilled, Sasuke-kun. Now, let's see how you fight alone." Then he jabbed one of the Narutos in the stomach faster than anyone could react. Five glowing fingers extended in a claw. Naruto froze and didn't pop.

Sasuke's insides turned to ice. _How could he pick out the real one out of all these clones? Even I had no idea who it was._

"Fuuinjutsu, Five Elements Seal." Orochimaru intoned. Just as the blond blacked out, the battlefield filled with white smoke. All the clones had been popped at once, having been unable to maintain their existence without their creator.

Sasuke screaming out his rage. It was an animalistic sound. Angry and raw.

Naruto fell, unconscious or… Sasuke's brain refused to complete the thought.

The Last Uchiha attacked again with renewed vigor. The fear was long since gone, having been replaced with a far more useful emotion; anger. Yet no matter how angry he got, Sasuke was careful about becoming reckless.

The Uchiha planned everything he did two steps ahead, being ready for his next course of action right as he finished his current one. Yet Orochimaru seemed to be planning ten steps ahead of him.

Sasuke fought. Sharingan spinning like mad. Fire, steel and lightning flew through the air at predictable and unpredictable patterns. He spun illusions, threw jutsu, and jumped at his opponent with vicious taijutsu. Kunai, shuriken and exploding notes followed. Sasuke used up everything in arsenal in a last futile attempt to harm their enemy.

He threw a punch that was just as easily dodged as everything else. Then he coughed up blood as a particularly vicious kick connected with his stomach. Sasuke struggled to regain his footing, falling back to one knee as he stared hatefully up at the grass-nin. Orochimaru only smirked, licking his lips with a ridiculously long tongue.

"Oh, I like that look in your eyes. Yes, you will do well. You will do very well indeed. If you survive my gift, remember that I will be waiting for you. This village is making you rot. Wasting your skills on useless trivia. Holding you back. I would help you get strong enough to kill Itachi." Sasuke snarled.

He tried another genjutsu, but the grass-nin shook it off with the same deceptive ease he had countered everything they had thrown at him.

Then Orochimaru's neck extend to an impossible length. Sasuke tried to move, but his body was frozen. Looking down, he could see several small snakes pumping him full of venom.

Uchiha Sasuke screamed. Pain beyond anything he had ever felt filled his body. Orochimaru's neck retracted as he smirked down at him. "Sleep well, Sasuke-kun."

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was worried.

She wasn't completely sure _why_ she was worried. It was just a feeling deep in her gut that wouldn't leave her. Her team had already obtained their scroll. With their particular skill set, it hadn't been all that difficult.

It was just that, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get Naruto out of her head. That in itself wasn't all that unusual, except they were in the middle of the Chunin Exams, and her team counted on her.

Suddenly, Kiba stopped, his head twisting around so fast Hinata was afraid he might get a whiplash. "Come out, Naruto. Akamaru and I can smell you."

Shino tensed beside her, but Hinata relaxed. The relief she was feeling quickly transformed into shame. She should have been the first to spot him.

The blond subject of her affections jumped down from the canopy. Smiling at them as if nothing was wrong. Hinata felt her cheeks heat up.

Did team 7 target them? If they had, Hinata wasn't sure she would be able to fight. Maybe she could deal with Sakura, and maybe distract Sasuke. But she doubted she could ever make herself fight Naruto.

"Relax, Kiba, I'm not after your scroll." Naruto said. He wore one of those smiles that made Hinata's stomach do flips.

Kiba's expression narrowed, his eyes searching through the canopy for movement. "Then why are you here? Where's the rest of your team?" The Inuzuka questioned.

His gaze flickered to Hinata, and despite her distracted state of mind, she got the message. With a simple hand sign, the Hyuuga heir activated her special eyes. "Byakugan." She murmured softly.

Beside her, she saw Shino beginning to spread more of his Kikaichu through the forest. Searching for any sources of chakra that signified more than a simple woodland creature.

Naruto put his hands up into the air, smile still in place. "Honest. We're not after your scroll. We're going after a group of Rain-nin some distance away. It's just that boss wanted to check out the competition, and you are one of the teams participating."

"B-boss?" Hinata stammered. Naruto would never call Sasuke boss. They might have been friends at the academy, but their friendship was more like a rivalry than a subservient one.

"Eh… I'm not actually the real Naruto. Only a shadow clone." Naruto clarified. He seemed almost embarrassed.

Hinata did a double take. A clone? The Hyuuga focused on the blond. He looked… completely like normal. Was that really a clone? And Kiba had smelled him as well? What kind of clone managed to imitate the user's smell to such a degree that even an Inuzuka was fooled? And how could the Byakugan not see a difference?

"Yeah." Naruto said, holding up his hands as he jumped down to join them. "So, how are you holding up? Have your scroll yet?" He continued, acting as if it was just a normal day at the academy and they were just hanging out.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "You're a clone? Prove it."

Naruto sighed but complied. He put his hands in a cross sign causing another clone to pop up, who promptly stabbed its creator. Hinata hitched forward on pure reflex, but the first clone disappeared in a burst of smoke long before she reached them. The new clone smiled at her. "No need to be so distressed, Hinata-chan. Shadow Clones dispel after one hit."

Hinata blushed scarlet. She felt like sinking into the tree beneath her feet.

Shino pushed his glasses up, light reflecting off the black surface. "It is logical to assume he is telling the truth. We are hardly the best target for an ambush. As Team 7 no doubt knows this, it would be illogical to attack us."

Naruto nodded along, brilliant smile in place. "What he said. Plus, we didn't want to attack our friends."

Hinata felt herself relax at those words, a warm feeling settling in her chest. Even if he probably meant Kiba, perhaps she could convince herself he saw her as a friend.

Kiba and Shino didn't completely let up their guard, but they seemed friendlier than earlier.

"Heh, well. Since you asked. Yeah, we do have our scroll. This exam is a piece of cake!" Kiba boisted.

Naruto smiled cheekily back at his friend. No doubt wanting to continue the banter. Then he froze. The blond's eyes widened and a hint of true fear shone through them.

Hinata felt her breath hitch as she reactivated her Byakugan, scanning for threats. Beside her, both Shino and Kiba crouched down into a combat stance, searching out whatever could have caused their classmate to react that way. "Oy, Naruto. What are you-" Kiba began.

Naruto only shook his head, gaze fixated on a point far beyond here.

"Not here. With Boss. My team. There's someone…" The blond began. The fear she had seen there earlier was even more prevalent now. But what stood out the most was the pure frustration. Naruto had always been so easy to read. Especially for a Hyuuga. Now was no different.

"Damn!" He cursed. Slamming fist against their trunk so hard it caused splinters to fly from the tree.

"What?! What is it?! I can't smell anything!" Kiba demanded. The Inuzuka staring intently in the same direction Naruto was looking. Akamaru whined beside his master, nose twitching every which way.

"I said with my team. Someone is attacking us. It's… it's bad." Naruto said. Hands curling into fists.

Hinata stared in awe and a little fear as Naruto's features slowly began to change. His previously innocent whisker marks etched themselves into his face, giving him a more feral appearance. The nails on his fingers sharpened to claws, and Hinata saw him consciously loosen his grip as to not pierce himself. Most startling of all was his wonderful blue eyes had been replaced with red demonic looking ones, dark slits instead of pupils.

"N-Naruto… what the hell?" Kiba asked. He stared at Naruto for a moment before shaking his head. Beside him, Akamaru jumped up to his partner, snaking his way down Kiba's jacket where he began to whine mutely.

Hinata felt like her body had frozen to ice. Someone was attacking Naruto? And what was going on with the blond? Through all the year she had observed him, she had never seen anything like this.

"Damn it. It's even worse. Knowing there is no point for me to go back to help them. Boss is there. One clone is never going to make a difference. But at this rate…"

"L-lead us there. W-we can help." Hinata managed. Inside her, a feeling she didn't fully recognize was building. She didn't know who was attacking Naruto, but she didn't care much. Based on the clone's reaction, it was pretty bad. Exam or not, she wanted to do everything in her power to help.

Naruto shook his head. His animalistic features morphing back into his normal ones. "I appreciate the offer. Really. I do. It's just that, against him... All we can do is hope he isn't there to kill us. And had he been, then we would have been dead long ago… Probably."

Hinata was about to respond, but then Kiba grabbed the blond's jacket. "Oy. If you truly are in that bad a pinch. Lead us there. We are not pushovers, you know."

Naruto still shook his head. Staring unflinchingly into the Inuzuka's eyes. "I will not lead you to your deaths. Even if I have to die myself. I can't lead my friends to something like that."

Kiba narrowed his eyes. If there was one thing that defined Kiba. It was loyalty. Something Hinata deeply admired about him. He might be rash and rough around the edges. But when things really counted, he would never let you down. "Like hell. Take us there, or I'll just track the way you came. Two teams have a better chance than one, right?"

Naruto's eyes widened again, something even Hinata couldn't identify dancing through the cerulean blue. "I-I" He stammered. That might have been the first time she had ever heard Naruto stammer.

The blond swallowed, then nodded.

"Fine. But don't engage him unless absolutely necessary. I don't think he intends to kill us."

Kiba narrowed his eyes, but eventually nodded. He released the blond.

Weird how just a few minutes ago, they was afraid Team 7 attacking them. "Right. What do you say Shino?"

Shino adjusted his glasses, his expression as stoic as ever. "If the threat is indeed as large as you say it is, Uzumaki-san, then two teams will logically have more of a chance than two. And even if this is a competition, we are still shinobi of Konoha." Kiba nodded resolutely, Hinata following shortly afterwards.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Jeez guys. Thanks. But really. Don't fight this guy unless he attacks you. I don't think he is here because of the exam."

Then he turned around and began three-jumping. Team 8 quickly followed.

"Not part of the exam? Who is he then? Why is he attacking you?" Kiba asked. He now wore his 'serious' face. An expression Hinata had only seen a couple of times before. Because of how loud Kiba and Naruto tended to be, it was easy to forget they were real shinobi. They could both get very serious if the situation called for it.

Naruto sighed, but answered the question easily enough. "His name is-" Then he disappeared. The shadow clone bursting into smoke before he could finish its sentence.

* * *

Naruto frowned as he once again found himself in a familiar sewer. The tunnels were quickly becoming well-known territory. He forced himself to ignore a hammering headache. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been back in wave, but hundreds of clones popped simultaneously was not kind towards his mind.

The blond sat up groaning. His head was pounding and his heart was beating a frantic rhythm. He knew from the start that they didn't really stand a chance. Still, the result of the battle had been… disappointing.

After a few seconds of deliberation, he began walking. There was really only one place of interest in his current a situation.

It didn't take long to find his way to Kurama's prison. The same flimsy paper held the giant gates together as always, but now there were giant lines of strong white fabric stretching across the gate. Writing in kanji and other markings lined the material, flowing in an almost hypnotic fashion.

Kurama was fully awake, focusing intently on the fabric before him. Red eyes narrowed in concentration.

As Naruto entered the room, the tailed beast focused on his host. " **Finally. I was wondering if I'd ever reach you."** Kurama's voice was strangely muffled, as if he was standing on the other side of a wall.

Naruto cocked his head to the side. Studying the giant seal in front of him. Because it _was_ a seal.

A seal on top of a seal.

He couldn't remember many details about sealing except the basics, despite the fact that he had been a seal master in quite a few lives. Neither Hashirama nor Ashura was particularly skilled in the art though.

Even so, everything he knew about sealing was screaming at him that this was Bad. With a capital B. A seal on top of another seal was just suicidal. The blond seriously wondered why it hadn't collapsed yet. Sure, they were two completely different sealing styles. But they were both engraved on his stomach. Both were compressed. Both were highly complex techniques reshaping the very fabric of the universe. But they looked stable. They didn't even seem to be interacting with each other.

First things first. "What the hell is this? Did the snake freak actually seal me?" Naruto complained, waving his arms childishly.

Kurama huffed, still sounding weird through the Five Elements barrier. " **As loath as I am to admit it, it probably was the easiest option for him. Knocking you unconscious would be almost impossible unless I let him. And killing you while my chakra flowed through you wouldn't be much easier. Although had he truly wanted you dead, you probably would have been by now."**

Naruto sobered at that, continuing to study the seal in front of him. Why? He wasn't sure. He didn't actually have a clue how to go about undoing it. Nor could he make head or tails of what it even did in the first place. Restricting his access to Kurama was obvious, but other than that? He had no idea.

"So… What now?" Naruto asked hesitantly. In the back of his head, he could vaguely sense his chakra system rebooting itself, rerouting the flow of chakra around the new obstruction.

" **We break down the seal, of course."** Kurama said, as if it was obvious.

"How?" Naruto asked incredulously.

The nine tails rolled his eyes. His tails beginning to wave behind him in irritation. " **Do you think it's a coincidence that the Tailed Beasts are sealed into humans and not objects? Not even our father's special sealing items can hold our power for long. One does not simply seal a bijuu. The same is true for jinchuriki."**

Naruto's eyes widened. That was… surprisingly simple. "So we just bust through it?" He asked.

Then he saw the problem. Kurama might be able to break through the five elements seal, but the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style was developed specifically by the greatest seal masters in history to hold the greatest of the bijuu in check.

For a moment, Naruto hesitated. Then he shook himself, feeling slightly ashamed that he even hesitated to be begin with. A steely glint in his cerulean eyes. "Well then. I might not be able to remove the Five Elements Seal. But the other one has a built in backdoor."

It took a moment for Kurama to register what Naruto was suggesting. His eyes widened as the blond floated towards the gate, flying through his mindscape as if the rules of physics didn't apply to him. And in here… they kind of didn't.

" **Wait a second… you're going to…"** The Bijuu didn't get farther than that, as Naruto's hand flinched back from the volatile barrier before him. The blond cursed. His slightly singed hand was quickly healing, despite his connection to Kurama being almost nonexistent. The fox doubted the blond even noticed. Too occupied growling at the unwelcome piece of fuuinjutsu in his mind. "Oh, come on! It stops me from reaching you as well?! That's just unfair."

Kurama blinked at his eccentric host, then sighed. " **You don't actually need to remove your original seal for us to burst through this one. While the Fourth Hokage's seal does indeed severely limit the amount of chakra I can send to you, it is sufficient for this."**

Naruto tilted his head in slight confusion. If Kurama could already break the seal on his own, he would have already done it. "So, you need my help?"

The Kyuubi sneered. " **No. You need my help, ningen."**

Naruto shrugged. As far as he was concerned, it was essentially the same thing.

Naruto winced as he placed a hand on the malevolent seal in front of him. It was extremely uncomfortable, like having an electrical current continuously running through your body.

Gritting his teeth. Naruto forced his unwilling chakra to build up around him. It was much harder than usual. Only part of what he wanted was actually channeled. Was the seal restricting him that much? He still had more chakra than most jounin, but compared to his usual reserves, this was like trying to breathe through a straw.

On the other side of the seal, red miasma began to leak out. It crawled along the bars of the gate before sliding through, stopping at the fabric of the new obstacle. Naruto frowned in concentration as he tried to drag the chakra towards him through sheer force of will. His own blue chakra responded. Slamming against the Five Elements Seal like a raging river. The seal held. Then Kurama's chakra began to do the same.

Naruto forced more and more chakra through his body, letting it spill out around him. The blue energy contrasted greatly by the corrosive red of Kurama's.

It was slow going, but eventually Naruto and Kurama managed a tentative connection, a small trickle of energy forcing its way through a hole in the barrier. Surprisingly, the seal tried to repair itself, but the duo would have none of it. They flooded the connection with chakra, slowly unravelling the seal in the process.

Naruto frowned as he felt his chakra flow change. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was an unfamiliar feeling. Like someone removing a plug in his mind. His chakra began flowing freer and freer, helping the already accelerating breakdown of Orochimaru's seal.

After a few more seconds, the Five Elements Seal was no more.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, feeling out his chakra for any sign of irregularities. He was a little exhausted, but that was all. He still had access to exponentially more chakra than before. Not to mention Kurama wasn't doubly sealed now.

"So… What now?" Naruto asked, staring up the giant fox before him.

Kurama smirked. His tails twitched. " **Now, you wake up."**

Naruto woke up.

 **Author's note:**

 **I LIVE!**

…

 **A year since last update. Wow. Time sure moves fast. I'm now long since finished my military service and working on the family farm, doing only courses.**

 **As for the story… This is it, I'm afraid. I won't be continuing. It simply takes too much time for me to write this and the other one, while having a (sort of) full time job and studying at the same time.**

 **It is annoying, but it means the fic will be laid on ice. I will be continuing Bleached Whirlpool, and try my best to finish it, no matter how long it takes.**

 **I have cleaned up the previous chapters. (somewhat) And that will probably be the last time I edit this piece. (As long as no one finds more mistakes. I did promise to fix them after all.) I am… astonished by how much my writing has changed. There were SO. MANY. MISTAKES. Holy shit, will this always be the case in the future? I hope not. I would like to be able to read my own book without cringing.**

 **I might get back to ToUN someday, but that would mean a full rewrite. It would have more complete characterization and a more logical evolution of events. It would also be listed as its own story, and this one will be left alone as a tribute to the first real story I ever wrote. Or began to write, I guess...**

 **First though, I have to finish Bleached Whirlpool, and then I can't justify writing fanfiction in favor of my own book. So I'll write at least one. Or at least start one before I get back to this. That will probably take years…**

 **I am not fully abandoning the story, as I have spent countless hours mulling over it, and I** _ **want**_ **to write it. I really, really do. I have the story in my head, literally thousands of years of it, and an entire world carefully built over 2 years. I kind of want to write it all. The only problem is time. So maybe I'll get around to it, assuming I don't change my mind in the next few years. Then I'll come back with a whole lot more experience. :)**

 **So thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. Hope you'll come back in a few years. Actually, I hope you'll read Bleached Whirlpool in the meantime, even if it is a crossover. (You'll probably need to have read/seen at least the first few arcs of Bleach to understand it.)**

 **I'm sorry about this, but time is a cruel mistress.**

 **Thank you.**


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